


Fall Lake High School

by BabyRhinosEatingSoup



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Eventual Fluff, F/F, High School, Possible Smut in the future i dont really know yet, Preath struggling to figure out their life, Slow Burn, Soccer, Stoners Getting Stoned, there will be no talex so don't worry, when i say slow burn i mean this could take a bit, your favorite gays living their lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:07:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 55,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22306903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyRhinosEatingSoup/pseuds/BabyRhinosEatingSoup
Summary: Tobin Heath and Christen Press are two very different. The only thing that connects them is that they go to the same high school (and there’s the fact that their younger siblings are best friends). Christen has lots of friends. Tobin has 2. Christen is a star soccer player. Tobin is pretty good at sneaking out of class to get high with her buddies. Christen has a bright future. Tobin is banking on her parents not kicking her out of the house before she figures out her goals. Christen knows who Tobin is (Christen knows everybody in school). Tobin knows Mal Press has an older sister named Christen and that they go to the same school but really doesn’t care who she is. So, how the hell do these two idiots fall in love? You’ll just have to read to find out.(The lives of other characters will also be visited as well as their relationships so it might not always be a POV of Tobin or Press)
Relationships: Alex Morgan/Kelley O'Hara, Alyssa Naeher/Becky Sauerbrunn, Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger, Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Comments: 207
Kudos: 666





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping to try to update this twice a week. I'm not sure how long it will be or where it will go but preath is endgame. The other ships could change around. Let me know what other POVs you would want and what relationships you want to see expand in this universe.  
> -🦏🥣

Chapter 1  
Tobin woke to a banging on her bedroom door. With a quick glance at her clock she knew she had woken up late and missed her alarm. This was how most mornings went. Her younger sister would always wake up on time to get ready before trudging down the hall to get Tobin up. The teenager sighed as she rolled out of bed and threw a random hoodie over her head before slipping into joggers. This was the last day of her senior year and she really didn’t care how she looked to other people. She’s gone to school with most of these kids since preschool so why would she care now? 

“Hey Tobs, hurry up we have to pick Mal up from her house on our way!” She heard Lindsey call from the kitchen. Tobin always pretended to be annoyed when she had to drive around her sister and her friends, but in reality, she had a small soft spot for all of them. Even though Lindsey and Tobin were very different she loved her sister, and her friends were good people. 

Tobin ran around the kitchen in search of something to eat before the drive because she could hear her mother in her head saying, ‘Tobin Powell Heath if you don’t eat your breakfast you won’t have a good healthy start to the day’. Tobin settled on an apple. She ate it as quickly as she could knowing that Lindsey liked being on time for school and then found her keys that she had haphazardly tossed onto the kitchen counter the night before.

“Alright, I’m ready to head out. Mom and dad said they wouldn’t be home for dinner tonight, but they would probably be back before we go to bed.” The Heath parents were absolute gems. Their father was an engineer and mother an elementary school teacher. Everyone loved them and they were great people. Tonight was their date night, which they tried to do once a month at least. “Not grabbing Emily and T today?” Tobin asked her sister as she started the car.

“Actually, they slept over Mal’s house last night. I was supposed to as well, but I was feeling like crap and wanted to be well rested for the first day of school” Lindsey said with a bright smile on her face. Tobin couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Her sister was a bit more enthusiastic about school then she was. The sisters couldn’t be any different in both looks and personality. Somehow, though, they got along extremely well and never had any issues. That might be due to the fact that Lindsey was always smiling and happy and Tobin was the definition of chill. The only thing they ever fight about is Tobin’s habit of getting high before school, during school, and after school. Lindsey wasn’t against weed, but she worried her sister fall into much worse stuff if the weed stopped giving her the high that she was always searching for.

It took about 10 minutes to get to the Press household and 5 seconds for 3 overly excited and spazzing sophomores to end up in the back of her truck. “Alright, last time I checked it was Emily’s turn to handle the music. Sonnett, please don’t play your weird playlist of music that shakes my car. I don’t need that this morning.” Tobin passed the cord back and then began the 15-minute drive to school listening to the younger girls talk animatedly about how excited they were to be back and see everyone. It was a quick trip to Fall Lake High and soon they were parked in the senior lot.

“The girls are all coming over after school today Tobs. Just a warning so you can prepare yourself for another loud car ride. I’ll see you after. Love you!” Lindsey yelled quickly as her and her friends hopped out of the truck. She got goodbyes and see you laters from the rest of the group as well as a flick to the forehead by Sonnett before finally being alone. Tobin took a deep breath before getting out and leaning on the door to wait for her two best friends. She never walked into school without her best buds. 

“TOBITO!” followed by loud stumbling footsteps came from behind the waiting teen and she spun around in time to catch Kelley O’Hara in her arms. Actually, catch wouldn’t be the correct word because that’s not what happened. Tobin managed to grasp onto her friend before they both started to go down. Thankfully, they were saved from behind by best friend number two Alyssa Naeher who looked at them with a raised eyebrow. “ALYSSA!” Kelley yelled, attempting to grab onto the taller of the three but failing when Alyssa stuck out her arm and held her back

“Kelley” Alyssa sighed and shook her head. “We are not reliving the first day of school last year when you grabbed onto me like a koala and pulled me down which ended with us hitting Tobin and crushing her.” Tobin had always been grateful for Alyssa and her much calmer presence even if sometimes she didn’t say much.

“Oh come on. It wasn’t that bad” Kelley stated with a frown. The stubborn girl put her hands on her hips and shook her head “It isn’t my fault that you couldn’t hold me, and that Tobin got in the way of me giving you the best hug of your life.” 

“Kelley…I had to go home immediately because the weight of both of you broke my wrist. You managed to break my wrist within 5 seconds of seeing you for the first time in a month (Kelley’s family went up to their cabin in Maine every August. Usually Alyssa and Tobin would be invited, but this time it was Kelley’s whole extended family going so they didn’t have space). That was a new record too” Tobin said before punching Kelley in the shoulder. “Now let’s get inside. Our parents will kill us all if they heard we were late for the first day of classes on our last first day of high school.” 

All three friends frowned a little at Tobin’s statement as they walked to the doors together. This might be the last year they have all together for a while. Alyssa was really smart and already had colleges lined up with soccer scholarships in hand which means she would probably be leaving Massachusetts. Kelley and Tobin were still not sure what they were going to do. Kelley was really smart, but school was not her thing. Her parents knew she might go into trade school or find something else to do and they accepted that as long as she did her best and worked her hardest. Tobin tried her best, but with her ADHD and inability to sit still her grades were a bit rocky at times and sometimes she just didn’t feel like putting in the work. Her parents knew that her passion was art and they were okay with her following that dream, but they had no plans in funding it all for her and she knew that. 

However, this was in the future. Today was about focusing on the trio being together again and getting through the day. They made plans to meet up during lunch to drive a little off campus and smoke before parting ways to get to homeroom. Tobin hoped today would move quickly. She was already itching for a hit and feeling unfocused. Unfortunately, she already knew that today would be an extremely long day.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Christen smiled widely as she pulled into the parking lot of Fall Lake. Today was going to be a fantastic day. It was the start of Junior year and she couldn’t wait to see her friends. Christen had to get to school an hour early to get to a soccer meeting for returning varsity players. She actually preferred getting to school early and having a chance to get her stuff together and talk to teachers and friends before the bell. She checked her mirror one more time to make sure her makeup looked good and hair was in place before making her way towards the side of the school to head into the locker room entrance. 

“Press!” Alex Morgan, one of Christen’s closest friends, called from the middle bench. Christen quickly made her way over to Alex and hugged the girl. “Can you believe it’s September already? Feels like just yesterday we were running to our car to pack for California” Alex sighed at the memory wishing they could go back in time. She wasn’t as big of a fan of getting back to school as Christen was. 

“Well, now we have something to look forward to next summer. I just can’t wait for soccer season to start up.” Christen loved soccer. Her dream was to make it big one day and score goals on the national stage. A lot of the girls on the team had that dream too but others decided it would be more practical to have a safer plan for the future. Christen however, couldn’t get that dream put of her head and was going to do anything she could to achieve it. She knew Alex would be right at her side striving for the same thing as well. “I just can’t believe we’re juniors. Freshman and sophomore year felt like they lasted forever but this year is already going quicker.” 

Before Alex could respond their conversation was interrupted by the door bursting open and more of their friends filing in. “Hey girlies!” A smiling Allie Long bounced towards them and plopped down in between Christen and Alex. “I’m so fricken ready for this season. We are going to destroy the competition!” Christen had met Allie in 6th grade and she quickly learned that the girl was a ball of energy who loved pulling pranks and being extremely loud. Allie had transferred to their school, but it wasn’t until Christen played club soccer with her that year that she knew they would be best friends. Allie was the one who convinced Christen that she could be great at soccer and accomplish her goals.

The chatter in the locker room was amplified as the full varsity squad was now gathered around discussing what classes they had and who they thought would join them this season from JV. After a few minutes the locker room talk came to an end when coach Jill Ellis opened her door and came out to greet her squad. 

“Good morning ladies.” She paused as the team gave her a good morning as well before continuing. “Last season we made it halfway through the playoffs before being stomped out by Elmwood Academy. We lost some great players to graduation, but I have faith in this team, and I believe that we have what it takes to lift that state trophy.” She had to pause again as the girls erupted in cheers which made the coach smile. “Tomorrow try outs begin. Your spots are secure as you all played in summer league. However, with Carli having graduated last year Becky will need a co-captain so you should still be working your absolute hardest tomorrow ladies. That is all for now you’re dismissed.” With that the coach made her way back to her office and the team started to head out of the locker room and into the hall. 

Christen filed out with Allie, Alex, Becky, and their goalie Alyssa Naeher. Christen didn’t really know much about Alyssa. She came up her sophomore year to fill the shoes of star goalie Hope Solo. Christen had been on JV that year as a freshman but she had heard about all the pressure that had been placed on the keeper’s shoulders. She also knew that Becky and Alyssa were a thing and had been since they were freshman apparently. As they turned the corner Alyssa broke off from them giving Becky a quick kiss on the cheek before heading to her homeroom. 

The warning bell rang and Christen had to spilt from Allie and Alex who were heading to the same homeroom. Her and Becky got to walk together though, since their rooms were just across the hall from each other. “I’ll see you at lunch Cap.” Christen said as she headed into the classroom and sat down in the front row. More kids began to come in and soon she was having an easy conversation with a girl to the right of her. She didn’t really know her but Christen was good at talking to anybody. 

The last bell rang and Coach Scott, who was not only a teacher there but also assistant coach of their team, began to take roll call. After that homeroom went by in a flash and it was time for the school day to start. Christen was pretty excited because she had class with Allie and Julie first period, and it was AP English which to her was a pretty easy subject. She enjoyed literature. This day had started off perfectly and she hoped it continued that way.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tobin was not having a great day so far. She fell asleep in her 2nd class and stumbled into her 3rd class late. She wasn’t even really sure how she had ended up late to 3rd period it just kind of happened. Now it was time for lunch. The plan was to grab some food and eat quickly before the trio headed out to smoke some weed. Well, her and Kelley would smoke while Alyssa was the adult watching over them to make sure they didn’t do anything stupid. 

“I think the one good thing about this school is the lunch. The lunch is pretty banging.” Kelley said as she shoved a mozzarella stick into her mouth and chewed loudly. “I mean really they could sell these mozz sticks at an actual restaurant and I would eat them. 15/10 would recommend.” The girl continued flying through her lunch with a grin on her face.

Alyssa shook her head for what felt like the 100th time today “Kelley please for the love of God don’t talk with your mouth full or chew like that ever again (Alyssa had to tell her this every lunch period or any other time they ate together) and also stop using your weird 15/10 scale it’s just incorrect.” This statement caused Kelley to stop heating and humph. 

“Well, Alyssa you are a solid 15/10 at being rude to your best friend and a 0/10 at being a nice person.” Alyssa once again just sighed knowing that she would never get through to her stubborn friend. 

Tobin just sat and ate her lunch. She was tired and wasn’t in the mood for Kelley’s shenanigans right now. She was about to take a sip of water when she felt a tap on her shoulder. With a frown and a look of confusion she turned around, but her face changed to one of annoyance when she saw who was behind her.

“Hey sis!” Lindsey said with a giant grin on her face. Standing behind her was the rest of her group all holding lunch trays. “Can you believe we have the same lunch!?” Unfortunately for Tobin, sophomores, juniors, and seniors could have the same lunch depending on the persons schedule. It was just her luck that Lindsey would be in her lunch and not the 2 other lunches she could’ve gotten. “So what are y’all talking about?” the blonde asked as she plopped down next to the less excited Heath.

Alyssa and Kelley gave Tobin a look that screamed ‘are you going to actually let them sit here dude?’ and Tobin really didn’t know how to fix this situation. Alyssa and Kelley were also fans of the rowdy crew. It was often that the trio would end up chilling a bit with Lindsey and her friends because the Heath house was a common hang out spot, but this was different. Lunch was their time to just chill. They all had free period after this but that was reserved for getting high and rambling on about random shit while Alyssa pretended to not be amused by their bullshit. However, Tobin didn’t have the heart to tell her sister to leave. Hopefully, next lunch they would find their place at another table.

“We weren’t talking about anything yet. How was your first day of…” before Tobin could finish the sentence there was loud throat clearing to the side of her. Everyone turned their heads to see multiple soccer girls standing there, including Alyssa’s girlfriend Becky.

“Hey Lys, I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to grab a seat at our table.” Becky said with a hopeful look on her face. Tobin and Kelley both turned and with a questioning look towards the keeper. This didn’t happen ever. Alyssa and Becky always seemed to have the mutual agreement of sitting separate at lunch since their groups didn’t mix…at all. “I figured since it was our last first day of school we would.” Tobin rolled her eyes. They had so many more days to spend together. Alyssa was never free right after school during soccer season and the weekend was often taken up by dates with Becky. She couldn’t at least give the trio time together during lunch?

Alyssa glanced at her friends “I don’t think so Becks. Of course I would love to have lunch with you, but I always eat with Tobs and Kells. It’s kind of been our thing since 1st grade ya know.” Alyssa gave Becky her best I’m sorry smile in hopes that she would understand and judging by Becky’s smile she did. At least that’s what they all thought until she opened her mouth again.

“They can come too!” Becky stated quickly. Tobin and Kelley’s eyes widened and once again they turned back to Alyssa waiting for her to dig them all out of this mess. The two prayed their genius friend had something to save them from this fate.

“Actually, Tobin’s little sis and her friends just joined us so…” 

“It’s fine we can eat over at that empty table!” Lindsey quickly jumped up with her stuff and hauled ass with the rest of the group to the other corner of the lunchroom. Tobin couldn’t be mad at her. Lindsey and her friends were extremely nervous about soccer tryouts and all found the varsity girls, especially “Captain Sauerbrunn”, very intimidating. 

Alyssa had nothing else left in her arsenal of reasons. Becky glanced around at the group with an expecting look “so now you can come right?” With a sigh Alyssa stood up and looked at her friends. Kelley and Tobin matched the keeper’s sigh and stood grabbing their things. This is not something they wanted or needed. 

Becky, along with the silent Ali Krieger and Crystal Dunn, lead them over to a table that was much more in the center of the lunchroom. The group of three were uncomfortable already. Alyssa obviously knew these girls, but she didn’t really interact much with them outside of team bonding activities. Her closest friends on the team were the other two keepers, Ashlynn Harris, who was very different to Alyssa but still very nice, and AD Franch, who was technically the JV keeper but came up sometimes to play with varsity. 

“Hey where were you…” Morgan Brian trailed off as she stared at the group. Today was the day of people not being able to finish their sentences, Tobin thought. “Um hi?” The whole team was looking at them in confusion.

“Alyssa and her friends are joining us for lunch today.” Becky said with a bright smile before sitting down and patting the empty seat next to her. Before Tobin could react Kelley quickly snagged the seat next to where Alyssa would be which meant Tobin had to sit next to one of the soccer girls. She glared at her freckled friend before walking around the table and sitting next to Christen Press who gave her a bright smile before turning back to her conversation with Kristie Mewis. 

Eventually, the awkwardness died down, but Kelley and Tobin kept their chat to themselves because they still weren’t comfortable sitting here. It was Christen saying “Hey Mal!” That finally got their attention.

Tobin found it a bit weird how she was so close to the younger Press sister then she was to the one Closer to her age. The two were pretty similar in personality. Both were always smiling and laughing with friends, but there was something slightly intimidating about the older of the two. 

“Did you need something?” Christen asked her younger sister. Tobin had a feeling that she wasn’t there for Christen though. The look on Mal’s face was one she had seen many times before. It screamed ‘Emily Sonnet did something she wasn’t supposed to do’.

Tobin stood up “what did Sonnett do this time?” she asked not noticing the whole soccer team looking at strangely. All of them were thinking it was a tad bit weird for Tobin to be talking to the younger Press when her sister was right there asking the question. They didn't know the close bond Tobin had with Mal Press. Tobin saw her as another sister. In fact, she saw all of Lindsey's closest friends that way. They were always at the Heath house and when they needed a ride Tobin was the getting them where they wanted to be. She still remembers getting a phone call from a crying Mal who had gone to her first high school party, alone with a boy, and driving to that damn house faster then she had ever driven before. She had watched all these kids grow up and cared for them a lot.

“She got her hand stuck in the bars between the chairs and we can’t get it out.” Mal said quickly. Kelley burst out laughing causing her to choke on the food that she had in her mouth. Alyssa smacked the girl’s back until her coughing stopped but her cackling just continued on. 

Tobin facepalmed and looked over at the table she knew they had gone to. Sure enough Sonnett was trying to pull her hand free from the chair. “Jesus Christ. I don’t understand how she manages to do this type of shit all the time. Lys Kelley one of you toss my lunch then meet me at the doors for free period. This might take me a bit. Mal, let’s go.” The two quickly left leaving behind a still laughing Kelley, an annoyed Alyssa, and a very confused group of soccer players who had many questions about what just happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christen seems like a tad bit of a bitch in this chapter but I promise she's not that bad afterwards. She's just playing protective sister mode. 🥣🦏

Christen reached out and grabbed her sister’s wrist before she could follow Tobin Heath. To say she was confused would be putting it lightly because she was extremely confused. “Mal, what were you guys doing that got one of you stuck in a chair?” Christen asked her little sister. She knew she wasn’t the only one at the table wanting answers. It seemed like the only ones who weren’t surprised by the information was Kelley and Alyssa.

“Well, Lindsey dared Sonnett to stick her hand in the bars of the chair and now she can’t get it out. I think Lindsey knew she would get stuck. It’s really not a big deal. Worst things have happened. Like the time when we dared Tierna to climb the big fence and she got stuck cause her shirt was snagged at the top! That was so funny. Alyssa had to pick her up off of it. Or when they covered tarp in soap, and I slid down it and crashed into the big fence. Man that fence has done a lot of damage to us.” Mal was talking a mile a minute and it just made them more confused. 

“Nah, the best one was when y’all made Lindsey poke a beehive with a stick. I’ve never seen her run that fast in my entire life. She was so freaked. Then Tobin ripped you all a new one because she ended up getting stung when she came out to see what the screaming was about.” Kelley stated. The younger girls were constantly pulling pranks and daring each other. The older girls often times had to help them out of the messes they got in and there were even two trips to the hospital. One of them was Alyssa getting a broken nose after trying to help them get Mal out of a basketball hoop. She had taken a nasty accidental kick to the face. 

“Where the hell did this all happen? When your friends are over all you do is watch movies and play board games. I have never once seen you guys do any of this dumb shit.” Christen frowned at the thought of her sister getting hurt. “Something bad is going to end up happening.” 

Mal rolled her eyes and sighed. She loved her sister a lot but Christen and her didn’t really click personality wise. They were definitely close and cared for each other, but this was a great example of how Christen was too high strung. Sure some of the stuff they did was dangerous and stupid, but they were kids. Mal never worried about getting seriously hurt because Tobin seemed to always appear when things were going bad. She knew the three older girls would always be there to keep them from harms way. When the group came over Mal’s house they were often left a tad bit bored because the Press parents were a little more serious. She loved her mom and dad, but they didn’t allow her to let loose as much as she could at the Heath residents. They obviously did the stupid stunts when Mr. and Mrs. Heath weren’t there but when they were the kids still knew that they could blast music, run around the yard with water guns in the middle of winter, and just letting loose.

Kristie Mewis was the first one out of the group to speak up. “Wait, is Sam involved in these stunts?” She asked the younger Press. All Mal could do is smile awkwardly and nod. “Oh Lord.” Kristie muttered while facepalming. The rest of the teammates at the table were also worried. They knew all these girls since they were on the JV team which often practiced with varsity for a little. 

“Mal you can’t be doing this kind of stuff. You’re going to get hurt and you’re not a child anymore. You should really know better. I’m disappointed in you.” Christen stated with an annoyed look on her face. “Wherever this is going on I don’t want you there anymore. I don’t need my little sister showing up at home hurt from hanging out with friends. Do you understand me?” 

The younger Press just shook her head. “You just don’t get it. You’re the golden child of the family. You get your good grades and have colleges already scouting you for soccer. Mom and dad are always praising you while they tell me to stop being too loud and stop causing trouble. You’ll never understand.” Mal said angrily before turning and running out of the lunchroom.

Alyssa and Kelley stood up quickly. “Nice going Press you really nailed that conversation.” Kelley spat with a glare on her face. They turned to leave but turned back around when they heard the sound of someone else standing from the now silent table. Of course it was Christen. 

“Where are you two going? She’s my sister so I’ll handle it.” The older Press began to walk around the table to head for the lunchroom doors, but Alyssa stood in front of her. The keeper put her hands on Press’s shoulders and made her sit back down.

“No, you’ll just make her more upset. Do you even know where she would go?” Christen frowned and shook her head. “We’re going to go over and get Sonnett out of the chair and have Tobin go find her. Trust me it’s the best option. Tobin will know where she is and make sure she’s okay. She’s your sister Christen you should know how sensitive she is.” Alyssa patted the girl’s shoulder before leaving with Kelley.

Christen was left sitting there upset. She didn’t mean to make Mal run off. She was just genuinely worried about her sister and the things she did after school with her friends. She didn’t want the young girl to get hurt but she also didn’t want to be the reason she cried. She sighed and pushed her lunch tray away from her. She had lost her appetite. The rest of the team slowly started conversation back up to try and distract from what had just happened. There was only 5 minutes left of lunch and Christen hoped that Mal was found before the bell and that she was okay. She felt stupid. Today was no longer a fantastic day for Christen Press.


	5. Chapter 5

Tobin likes to think she’s pretty fast. However, when Kelley and Alyssa told her that Mal had run off upset, she moved faster than she had ever moved before. She wasn’t that worried about Sonnett knowing that Alyssa was capable of getting her out of the chair and also capable of keeping Kelley from convincing her to do it again. Tobin raced up three sets of stairs and barreled through the hallway and into the library. Once entering the quiet room she slowed herself down and made her way through the maze of tables after giving the librarian a slight wave. It only took her a moment to get to the far-left corner of the library and hear the slight sniffling coming from deep in the bookshelves. A few seconds later Mal came into full view curled up into a ball crying into her knees.

“Go away Tobin I don’t want to talk right now. I just want to sit here and be angry and sad before I have to go to my next class” the younger girl choked out as she ducked her head behind her arms. Instead of leaving her there, Tobin sat down to the left of her and stayed silent knowing that eventually she would want to talk. Mal peaked out from behind her arms, but quickly put her head back down when she saw Tobin looking at her. “If you think I’m gonna talk I’m not. You’re just going to be sitting here in silence for 50 minutes and then you’re going to be mad cause you didn’t get to smoke with Kel and Lyss.”

Tobin rolled her eyes but didn’t answer. Mal would get the silence she wished for her if that’s what she wanted. Tobin had quickly learned the difference between each girl and how to deal with them when they were upset. Lindsey wanted to be held until the crying stopped, Sonnett needed to laugh, Tierna just needed to know that you were there, Sam craved a Sundae and romcoms, Rose wanted to blast music and dance, and Mal needed you to sit and wait until she cracked and finally talked to you. Mallory was perhaps the most stubborn to help when she was sad. She was sensitive and though she was always open to her friends when she was happy. When she was hurt, she shut down completely. At this point the bell for class had already rung so Mal was late and it was probably best that she didn’t go to this class. 

There was a slight rustle a few minutes into the silence and a second later Tobin felt Mal’s head on her shoulder. “She just doesn’t get it. We’re completely different people. She’s a genius in the classroom and a beast on the soccer field. I feel like mom and dad love her more even though in the back of my mind I know that’s not true. I know she cares about me and loves me, but it’s hard to remember that when she tries to step in and rule my life. How could she say your house isn’t safe when she doesn’t even know you?” Mal was clearly heated and Tobin almost missed that last part, but she didn’t. 

“Hold on a minute what did she say about my house?” Tobin turned with a look of confusion towards the younger girl who was no longer crying. Mal didn’t answer. She knew if she told Tobin what her sister said it would piss her off and possibly make more of a mess then just her being a little hurt by her sister. “Mal, what did she say” the anger was clear and Mal realized she had to tell her, or Tobin would just find her sister and find out from her. 

“She said that she didn’t want me going over your house anymore because she thought it was dangerous. They were all confused about the Sonnett predicament and Kelley and I started joking about all the other pranks and dares that have been pulled at your house. She got upset and though that I would end up getting seriously hurt if I continued to come over” she spoke quietly and watched as the anger on Tobin’s face turned into fury. Tobin didn’t get angry often, she mostly just got frustrated, but when she did get angry it was a very, very scary sight to see. “Tobin she was just upset. She doesn’t know that you would never let that happen please don’t be mad. Christen just wants to make sure I’m safe” the younger girl quickly spoke in hopes that she could diffuse the situation before it could really occur. However, she knew her efforts didn’t work because Tobin was standing now, and she did not look any happier than she did before.

Tobin held her hand out to pull the younger girl up before turning and leading them out of the library. Tobin knew that Christen Press had a free period right now. She had heard her and few of the other girls talking about getting some extra practice on the pitch. There were 35 minutes left of this period and she was going to give it to Press. “Go to the nurse and get a late slip She’ll understand if you tell her that you were upset. I’ll see you after school” she pulled Mal in for a hug before striding through the hallway and out the front door. She could already hear some of the soccer team yelling from the field. As she made her way over, she heard one of the girls yell heads and a quick glance up showed a soccer ball heading right for her head. With quick reflexes Tobin caught the ball and her overwhelming anger made the sting in her hands hurt less. 

“Hey, toss it over here!” One of the players shouted. Tobin knew she was a junior, but she didn’t know her name and she didn’t really give a damn what it was at the moment. The senior kept moving though. She had spotted her target on the left side of the field and planned on giving her a piece of her mind. Christen Press had spotted Tobin as well and her face lit up. She was sure that the girl was coming over to tell her that Mal was okay and had gone to class. Press hadn’t registered the look on Tobin’s face and the way she tightly gripped the ball. 

The second Tobin had made it over to Mal’s older sister she took the ball and booted it as far into the trees as she could. “You got something to say about me Press you say it to my face. You don’t talk shit about my house and how my family runs things behind my back to your little sister. Do you understand me!?” Christen could only stand there in shocked silence. She had never really heard Tobin Heath speak. Mal always said she was so chill and relaxed but Christen was going to have to disagree. “I asked you a question Press. All I need is a simple yes or no answer.”

Before Christen could say anything Becky Sauerbrunn was jogging over. “Tobin, you need to chill bud. Whatever Christen said we can work it out. I’m sure she didn’t mean it. Right Press?” Becky looked at Christen hoping and praying to God that a quick nod would get Tobin Heath under control. Becky remembered freshman year when a girl outed Kelley O’hara to their class. Heath had turned and swung on the girl. Tobin Heath was a good person even though she only had two friends if you didn't count Lindsey and her friends. People tended to drift away from her because she was kind of strange and typically kept to her little trio. Becky knew though, Becky knew that if you messed with anyone Tobin considered family you got your ass kicked. 

“You know what? No, I’m not sorry” Becky’s eyes widened at the words that came out of Christen’s mouth. Oh Lord Jesus help us all is all she could think. “That’s my little sister and what you let them do at your house while your supposed to keep an eye on them is insane. She could get seriously hurt or worse. You need to back off and stay away from her. I don’t care if she thinks you’re her friend and that you care about her. If you really cared, you wouldn’t let all this crap happen” the soccer player who was usually all smiles and love was seething now. “Your weird and your only friends are a psycho and Alyssa who probably only likes you because she’s too nice to say otherwise. There are reason no one else hangs out with you, you piece of shit!” The field was dead silent after that. The minute the words left Christen’s mouth her eyes widened and she began to apologize because she really hadn’t meant it. She knew everything she had just said wasn't true at that Heath was a nice person. The type of person to hold the door for a crowd of people even if it meant being late for class.

“You know what Christen Press? Everyone always says that you’re the nicest damn person they ever met. I’m not gonna lie though, I think they’re dead wrong. You want to keep Mal from hanging at our house? Go for it. It’s not me she’s gonna dislike in the end. Have a great fucking day Press.” Tobin turned and made her way to the parking lot instead of the school. She texted Alyssa asking her to drive the girls to the Heath house after school because she was going home. Once the text was sent and she got a reply back Tobin hightailed it out of the Fall Lake parking lot and towards home.


	6. Chapter 6

Christen stood in shock as Tobin bolted to the parking lot. She felt horrible and wished she could take back everything she said. She didn’t think Tobin was a freak and she didn’t think Kelley was psycho or that Alyssa wasn’t really her friend. God she was so stupid. She made eye contact with Becky and she could see the disappointment in her eyes. Everyone else had gone back to the locker room so that they could get ready for class, but not Becky. 

“Christen, after school you are going to the Heath house and you are going to apologize to her. Tobin may have a tough shell but in middle school kids used to call her names a lot. They didn’t stop until they managed to grow up and get their shit together. She doesn’t need it from you.” It was all said very sternly and Christen knew that she even if that wasn’t already her plan she would definitely be going after hearing Becky’s voice. All Christen did was nod and begin to head off to the locker room door unable to feel anything but guilt. 

After the incident in the field school seemed to go by in a flash. It seemed like the clock was moving at super speed which made Christen feel extremely nervous. When the bell rung, she felt sick. She wasn’t sure if she could actually face Tobin Heath. She knew she had to apologize though, so she began her walk to the lot after gathering her books from the locker.

“Press!” Christen spun around as her name was called by a familiar voice. Alyssa Naeher and Kelley O’Hara were walking her way. Christen began to sweat. “We heard what happened during free. Becky told me that you were going to the Heath’s to apologize to her. I’m supposed to be bringing Lindsey and the others there right now, but I’m going to take a detour at the mall so that you two can get your shit together. Text me when you fixed your shit. I know you’re a good person Christen, and I know you didn’t mean it. Just be careful Tobin can get angry pretty easily.” The whole time Alyssa spoke all Christen could do was try to avoid the glare that O’Hara was sending her way. All she could do was nod and head outside. Becky had texted her the address that Alyssa gave her and the fact that the drive was only about 15 minutes made her feel sick and unprepared. 

“Alright, breath Chris. You can do this” she tried to hype herself upas she got out of her car and walked towards the front door. After a minute of standing there and thinking that she could just turn and leave she finally knocked. Maybe Tobin wouldn’t answer if she saw that she had knocked. Maybe this would all disappear tomorrow, and she wouldn’t have to deal with this. However, Christen knew that until she talked to Tobin and said sorry, she would feel an immense amount of guilt. 

“Christen Press.” The girl standing in front of the door spun to the right and jumped back a little in surprise at the sight of Tobin leaning against the garage. She was covered in some car grease and Christen realized that she probably didn’t see her because she was either under or at the front of the car. “What are you doing here? I thought my house wasn’t safe?” Tobin had a wide smirk on her face as she watched her flounder with what to say.

“Could we maybe…go inside? I want to talk to you and apologize and stuff you know. It’s a little awkward to just do it standing here outside you know?” She spoke as confidently as possible with honey colored eyes looking her up and down. After a few seconds of silence she began to turn red. “…Um so…can we?” Finally the other girl turned and waved her to the garage. Tobin brought her into the house through the door inside the garage. Christen’s nerves still hadn’t settled but she felt a bit less nervous now. They made their way up a set of stairs and down the hall until they finally entered what she assumed was Tobin’s room. Her eyes widened as she examined the walls splattered in paint and art covering the walls. Before she could comment on it, Tobin cleared her throat causing her to refocus on the girl in front of her. 

“Let’s get this over with. Tell me that you’re sorry for calling me a freak and what you said about Mal coming over and I’ll apologize for yelling at you and kicking your soccer ball.” Tobin plopped down in her desk chair and began swiveling back and forth waiting for Christen to respond. It took her a minute to speak though, because she was shocked that Tobin would apologize to her when she thought Tobin’s reactions were completely normal for this situation.

“No, Tobin you don’t have to apologize. I’m the one who was a jerk. I shouldn’t have said what I did and I’m so stupid and sorry” before she could continue Tobin interrupted her with a chuckle and a shake of her head once she was done, she motioned for her to continue. “After seeing you run to find Mallory and make her feel better, I should’ve realized that you wouldn’t let her get hurt and that I should trust you when she’s here. I just get so nervous because she’s sensitive and I don’t want my little sister to end up hurt.” She finally took a breath and looked up to see Tobin was smiling. 

“Welp, apology accepted. That’s all I needed Press. Just know that anytime Mallory is here I’ll be looking out for her and the other girls. Now, lets go downstairs and set up some movies and food. They always come home hungrier than a pack of wild dogs.” Tobin stood and began to walk to her door. When Christen didn’t follow she turned with an expecting look on her face. “You think after apologizing you can just bounce? No way, dude. You are going to stay today and witness what it’s like when the Heath house is full of rowdy teens. They must act like angels at your house if you don’t know about the prank wars.” With a nod Christen followed Tobin down the stairs to begin to set up. “You can just pick out some movies. That’s the stack that the girls prepared for tonight.” 

Christen quickly texted Alyssa to tell her everything went well, and they could come back. She was still very confused by what just happened. The last time she saw Tobin she looked like wanted to kill Christen, but now she was all smiles. This was the Tobin Heath the Christen was used to seeing in the hallway (when she chose to come to school). It only took 10 minutes after the text for the front door to explode open and the group of sophomores to tumble in yelling and laughing. A light squeeze to her shoulder made her turn around and was immediately met with soft brown eyes.

“Once the movie starts, they’ll begin to chill out, but afterwards they’ll be hyped on whatever sweets they eat and want to blast music and dance. That’s when you can either leave or join Lyss, Kelley, and I in the backyard to just chill.” Tobin hopped over the back of the couch and sat to the left of Christen. The right side of the couch was quickly claimed by Mal who leaned against Christen.

Christen put an arm around her baby sister and pulled her closer. “I’m sorry for being a jerk Mal. I realize that I was stupid, and I shouldn’t try to control you or assume anything.” Mal didn’t say anything but she did lean closer into Christen and a small smile graced her face. Christen knew she was forgiven

Soon the couch was packed, and the floor had blankets and pillows piled up for the rest of the girls. The Lion King was playing on the TV and everyone was having a good time, including Christen. The homie feeling in the room made her regret not getting to know Tobin Heath earlier. She was even beginning to enjoy the presence of Kelley who was continuously making jokes during the whole movie. Each one made her crack a smile or laugh and judging by the lack of shushing, this was normal. 

By the time they got to the 3rd movie Christen had gotten comfortable enough that she was leaning slightly against the lanky frame to the left of her. It felt good and Christen came close to shifting away, but Tobin began to lean against her too which stopped her from moving. When the 4th movie started it began to be clear that tonight the girls just wanted to binge Disney classics so the older girls began to rise so they could head to the back porch and just hang out. Tobin stuck out her hand to help Christen up from the comfortable couch and lead her outside where her two friends already were. 

“Here Tobes rolled one for you already” Kelley handed Tobin a blunt and lit it for her. “You want one Press?” Christen quickly shook her head. She had tried pot before, and it made her feel kind of gross. “More for us.” She high fived Tobin and the two of them sat on the porch steps leaning back and chatting about whatever they felt like chatting about this time. It always changed depending on the mood, they day, and how high they got. 

“Nights like these are the best.” Alyssa spoke up beside Christen “Everyone is just settled, and night is calm. There’s no screaming and kicking of soccer balls in the house. Though, if those nights didn’t exist it’d be pretty boring around here.” A smile was on Alyssa’s face and Christen had a feeling that the usual quiet goalkeeper liked a little noise in her life. 

An hour passed and Tobin and Kelley were high enough to begin talking about the two feuding squirrel gangs that lived in the trees in Tobin’s backyard. Apparently, the gangs were having a time of peace right now to try and stop the evil bird army that perched on the telephone wires plotting to take them out. Christen decided it was time for her to head home. She was tired and they day had drained her a bit. “Will you tell Tobin and Kelley I said bye? I would do it myself, but they seem very engrossed in the war.” Alyssa nodded and gave her a thumbs up so Christen headed back inside. She said bye to Mal telling her she would see her tomorrow and left the Heath house feeling much better then she had entered.


	7. Chapter 7

A few days had gone by and nothing else interesting had happened at Fall Lake. Tobin and Christen would smile at each other in the halls and say hi but they never really did much more then that. Tomorrow, which was Saturday, would be one of the last days that the pool at the Heath house stayed open. Everyone was excited for a final swim and bbq party and it’s all they could talk about in the car that morning when Tobin drove them to school. Once everyone hopped out, they all went their separate ways. Tobin wouldn’t be seeing Alyssa and Kelley until lunch and after that she only had one class each with the two. 

Math, English, and Environmental went by slowly but eventually it was lunch time. Tobin strolled into the cafeteria with a grin on her face when she spotted her friends at their usual table. She quickly made her way over and plopped down across from the two. “Are you guys both coming to the store with me after school today? I’m going to need help grabbing stuff for tomorrow and I really don’t want to hear anyone complaining about their favorite food not being there” she glanced at Kelley as she spoke, and the freckled girl rolled her eyes. “Kelley, there’s always something missing for you and you complain about it even when you refuse to come to the grocery store with us. This time you better be there. Besides, I’m taking the girls and I can’t watch them by myself. We don’t need another summer of 2017 incident.” The two friends nodded in agreement. 

“We’ll be there don’t worry. Oh and Tobes I was wondering if maybe I could invite Beck? She wanted to hang out this weekend and I told her I wasn’t free, and she said that was fine, but I think she was a little upset and now I feel bad.” Alyssa ended her rambling with a sheepish smile that made Tobin roll her eyes. She found Alyssa and Becky’s relationship both adorable and gross. It was cute how much they cared about each other but Kelley and her couldn’t help but make jokes and throw in the occasional gagging noise when they had to witness the adorableness up close and personal. According to Alyssa they were acting like 5-year-olds.

Tobin nodded “Becky’s always welcomed. She’s cool and she has yet to break your heart, so I guess she’s still in the good books.” Tobin and Kelley had given Becky the shovel talk after Alyssa’s twin sister had a few days before. Unfortunately, the soccer player had not been intimidated by any of them. “If she wants, she can come shopping with us. We both know Kelley will be no help keeping the kids at bay because she’s one of them.”

“Excuse me Tobin but you seem to be forgetting when over the summer we had a shopping cart race in the middle of the snack aisle. Which was rigged. You and Lindsey always win when you team up together plus have you seen your sisters’ arms? One push and you were flying down the aisle poor Tierna and Rose had to continue to push me forward. Man do I wish Sam or Sonnett came on that grocery store trip with us. Sam could’ve made me fly.” Alyssa could only shake her head the memory. She had nearly been run over by Tobin’s cart when she went to find them. She barely managed to stop her friend from flying into a soup can pyramid. 

When there were only 10 minutes left of lunch the trio stood deciding they would leave early. They were going to go to the library to actually try and get some work done today and be productive. Alyssa had convinced them that it was best they at least try. Before leaving the cafeteria, they made there way over to Becky’s table to invite her over. 

“Hey Beck” Alyssa smiled and quickly kissed her girlfriend. “Tomorrow Kelley, the kids, and I are going over Tobin’s to have one last pool party and barbeque. I know you wanted to hang out this weekend and Tobin said it was cool if I invited you.” Becky seemed to contemplate Alyssa’s words for a second. Alyssa had a feeling she was thinking about it so much because she didn’t really know the rest of the girls like Alyssa did. The keeper quickly turned to Tobin and with one look Tobin sighed and nodded knowing what Alyssa was asking. “The team can come too. A little team bonding before the season starts.” At that Becky smiled and turned to the girls. They seemed to discuss it with looks across the table at each other. With a few quick glances Becky turned with an answer.

“Sounds great. We’ll be there. Just text me the time and if you want us to bring anything.” All the girls nodded in agreement with their captain. When the trio didn’t leave Becky faced them again. “Was there something else you needed to ask?” Alyssa looked at her friends as the waited for her to speak up. The thing is, the keeper wasn’t sure Becky could handle a trip to the grocery store with their rowdy crew. Something always went wrong and the only reason they hadn’t been banned was because the owners were good family friends with the Heath’s and were basically Tobin and Lindsey’s aunt and uncle. 

“Well, we were going to go grocery shopping today to grab stuff for the party and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come? It would help us know what to get since the rest of the team is coming and all” she said quickly. Tobin and Kelley were both holding in their laughs from behind her. One-time Becky came bowling with the group and almost got a bowling ball to the foot because Sam had tripped over Rose causing her to bump into Sonnett who then dropped her bowling ball. 

Becky frowned for a minute before finally speaking. “Sorry Lyss but I can’t. I have a dentist appointment I have to rush to after school. I can try to text you, but I’m going to be driving.” She turned to the rest of the team. “Could any of you guys maybe go in place of me? We all know what we like and dislike. This way it’s easier for them and they can shop faster.” This also got a chuckle from the Tobin and Kelley who knew that nothing and no one could make this go any quicker. 

“I can go” a smiling Christen Press said. This left many at the table a little shocked. They knew that their teammate had made up with Tobin, but they didn’t know that it went so well that she would go grocery shopping with them. “The only issue is I came with Ash today, so I don’t have a car to drive. Can one of you fit me in?” she asked. 

“I can take you. The girls will go with Alyssa and Kell. One of us tries to have an empty back seat because they tend to go overboard with what they need.” Tobin’s parents always sent her on these grocery runs with an excessive amount of money after they realized how hard it was to keep these girls not hungry. With the other girls coming they were going to have to pack the care even more. “Just meet me in the senior lot after school today and we can go from there.” With that the group parted from the table and headed to the library. 

The rest of the day went by and it was finally time to get the show on the road. Tobin spotted Christen the minute she stepped onto the sidewalk outside of school. With a smile and a wave she greeted the younger girl and led the way to her orange Jeep Wrangler. “I want to apologize now for what you are about to witness and go through. These trips get intense and have led to injuries. I have gotten a black eye from a baguette sword fighting.” Christen couldn’t help but laugh at the statement. If anyone else had said it she wouldn’t have believed them. Tobin decided right there and then that she liked Christen Press’s laugh. 

They made it to the store last and the first thing they saw when they entered was Sonnett pushing Lindsey around in a shopping cart while the other girls threw items at her to place in the cart with her. “And so the madness begins. A few more aisles down they found Alyssa actually using a list and having Tierna and Mal find items for her. “Alyssa please tell me you didn’t let the other girls go off with Kelley.” The keeper could only give Tobin a guilty look. “Well Press, let’s go stop anything from breaking.” The two made their way back over to the dairy products, easily finding the loud group. 

“Tobito! Come join us.” Her freckled friend called from inside a shopping cart. On second glance Tobin realized that Lindsey, Kelley, and Rose were all in that cart. Sam was behind them pushing it while the three girls all struggled to reach for things and try not to elbow and crush each other. 

Christen’s eyes were wide with concern at the sight in front of her. “Are they going to be able to get out of that? I feel like that’s not safe” she began to get nervous not wanting one of the girls to get injured under her watch even though she hadn’t technically been there when all this started. Tobin on the other hand looked determined. She wiped her sneakers on the tile floor and went into a sprint. Sam braced herself from behind the cart and the girls in it said a prayer as the older Heath dove in with them. The group broke out into a fit of laughter once they realized they hadn’t been injured by the impact. 

“Alright Christen, you’re up.” The junior just shook her head. There was no way in Hell she was getting into that cart. She would end up hurt and she knew it. “Booo! Fine suite yourself. We should actually begin shopping now so I’m gonna bounce.” As Tobin began to climb out Kelley latched onto her.

“No Tobin, you are one with the cart now. There is no leaving.” The rest of the girls also grabbed onto her and tried to pull her down. “You can’t leave us! You’re stuck here forever! Muahahahaha!” Tobin continued to pull away from the girls and the cart began to dangerously shake. Knowing what was going to happen Sam scrambled backwards and the cart fell soon after. “Oh fuck!” was all that came minus the screaming as they all crawled or rolled out of the cart in pain. “Welcome to the grocery trips Christen.” Kelley said with a stupid grin.

Tobin finally managed to get to her feet and stretch out. “Well, that was fun. Now we have to actually get our shit together and shop. We have a lot to get.” Before Tobin could even turn around a throat was cleared at the front of the section. Alyssa stood there with two full carts and a non-injured Mal and Tierna. 

“We got everything and Christen texted us what the team liked while you guys did whatever it was you were doing. Let’s head out gang.” The girls all chanted Alyssa’s name and sprinted for the front with their cart to be first in line. Tobin and Christen walked slowly back with the other 3 deciding they really didn’t need to rush. Once Tobin’s car was packed, they went to their separate vehicles to meet at the Heath hose and begin preparations for tomorrow. The kids were also sleeping over. Kelley couldn’t because her parents wanted her and her sister home tonight for her grandma’s birthday and Alyssa was having a movie night with her sister. They were going to however come in to help put stuff away and say hi to Mrs. And Mr. Heath. 

When Tobin and Christen got into Tobin’s car the senior turned to the younger girl with a questioning look. “Do you want me to drop you off at your house or is there somewhere you need to be? If not, you’re welcomed to come over” she said with a smile. Tobin liked Christen. She was clearly a nice person. Did she really trust her yet? No. That probably had something to do with the fact that they hadn’t officially met on the greatest of terms and Tobin didn’t really let people in easily. She was always kind to everyone, unless angered, but not close with people easily. 

“Yeah I’m down to hang out but remember I don’t have my car and I don’t want you to have to drive me home that late.” Tobin just shrugged as she began the drive back to her house. 

“You could stay the night. It’s not really a big deal. I know you wouldn’t have a swimsuit, but you could ask one of your teammates to bring you one, right? Plus, you could just borrow some of my clothes if you want.” Okay so maybe Christen Press’s smile helped melt Tobin hard exterior a little quicker. She didn’t regret giving out the invitation when the girl in the passenger seat gave her an even bigger smile and nodded at the idea. Maybe she could be friends with Christen Press she thought as she drove towards her house.


	8. Chapter 8

Kelley and Alyssa had left an hour ago and the girls had run down to the basement for a Just Dance competition. Tobin had told Christen that those battles could get bloody and that it was best they stay out of the way from it. In the hour that they had spent watching a movie on the couch she had heard what sounded like elephants stampeding and someone very aggressively hit their Wii remote against the ceiling. “Come on, let’s head upstairs. The noise will be dimmed, and my mom and dad probably want to watch something they like to block out the noise.” The two girls made their way upstairs to Tobin’s room and the minute they got their the older of the two fell back on her bed with a sigh. “Boy am I tired.” 

Christen hadn’t heard Tobin’s comment. Once again, she was swept up by the bright colors that covered the walls in random splatters and the are work the was hung up around the room. It was so different from the rest of the house. Downstairs the walls were painted a cream like color that made you feel warm inside especially when you were surrounded by smiling people all having a good time. This room however, it gave off a completely different vibe. It was chaotic, but chill at the same time. It left you feeling a whole new burst of energy, but also made you stop and just take in the colors surrounding you. “Did you do all this?” The green-eyed girl asked as she sat on the corner of the bed looking down at Tobin.

“Yup. My parents weren’t the happiest when they realized when I said I wanted to paint my room I meant that I wanted to just fling paint on the wall wherever I saw fit. Alyssa and Kelley came over and we just went nuts. Used our hands, our clothes, just splashed paint straight from the bucket, and occasionally picked up a brush.” Tobin was grinning at the memory and Christen realized that her smile was one of the best smiles she’d ever seen in her life. “Over there next to my desk are all our handprints. Originally, it was just the three of ours, but the other girls just had to be on there as well. Begged me for days until I finally cracked. The paintings I’ve done over time. I’m working on a new one now, but I don’t like to show people until they can see it in all it’s glory.” She said giving Christen a wink which cause the other girl to laugh.

“Well, I can’t wait to see it then” she stated as she leaned back to join Tobin. Upon doing so she realized that the ceiling wasn’t left untouched. Unlike the other walls though, it was carefully detailed with stars that Christen imagined connected to form constellations. “You’re really good at art. Like really good.” She glanced over at the tan figure laying next to her to find that she had a thoughtful look on her face.

“It’s probably one of the only things I actually enjoy doing in school. All the other subjects hurt my brain. That’s probably why I don’t bother showing up a lot of the time. I stopped seeing the point of it. I’ve never missed art class though. Not unless I’m real sick or something.” A smile formed on her face and she let out a content sigh. “My parents have finally accepted the fact that I’m not going to college for anything but art, if even bother going at all. Next summer there’s a contest for young artists. If you win your art gets put up at a big auction where all the big wigs go, and you get actual exposure. Two summers ago the guy that won it got huge and is now off in Europe selling to big companies and celebrities. People who want his art to be something they see when they wake up in the morning. Just something they can actually enjoy and appreciate. That’s what I want.”

At this moment Christen Press knew that Tobin Heath was much deeper than she had thought. She knew that she had to get to know this girl and find out what else made her smile or laugh. Wanted to learn what other deep thoughts sat in a head many teachers thought was empty. It was after these thoughts that the Christen Press realized she had one big ass crush on Tobin Heath, and she began to choke on air at the thought because it had surprised her so much.

“Woah hey you good Press? Don’t need you dying on me.” The older girl was now sitting up with concern in evident on her face and all Christen could do was give her a thumbs up as she attempted to clear her throat. “You sure? I can go grab you a water if you want.” Christen nodded for a water in hopes that while Tobin was gone, she could compose herself. The minute the girl got up and left Christen finally felt like she could clearly breath.

“You can’t have a crush on Tobin you idiot. She’s all cool, calm, and collected while you’re a mess. Plus, it turns out she can get all philosophical and smart when it comes to conversations and what do you do? You choke on air and turn all red.” She facepalmed as she got more frustrated with herself. A few days ago she wanted nothing more then to forget about the other girl completely and now it turns out that she kind of maybe liked her a lot. She knew Tobin was gay and Christen was out as bi so she didn’t have to worry about that, but this couldn’t happen. They were way too different. Christen liked planning things out and having some sort of structure while Tobin…well Christen wasn’t sure if Tobin knew what structure was honestly. “Just get you head out of your…” before she could finish muttering to herself the door opened, and Tobin returned with a water bottle in hand. 

“Sorry it took me so long. The case was in the garage which means I had to get through a bunch of dancing teenagers and boy was that hard. You should’ve seen poor Tierna’s face. I don’t understand how she deals with them. I don’t know if you can tell, but she’s much more on the quiet end. Girl can definitely get crazy and wild when she wants, but even I have trouble keeping up with Em, Rose, and Sam when you turn on “Rock Lobster” and let them loose.” Tobin chuckled and laid back down on the bed this time propping herself up on the pillows and headboard. “Want to watch a movie? I know that’s all we’ve been doing but I’m a tad tired and still a bit sore from falling out of a grocery cart.” They both laughed at the memory and Christen scooted back to join Tobin at the headboard.

Maybe a movie was what she needed to get these thoughts out of her head. It only took a minute for Tobin to pull up Netflix and they easily decided on Black Panther. Both had already seen the movie, but it was definitely one they could watch over and over again. When they both realized they enjoyed Marvel they decided that over the summer they would hole up in Tobin’s room and try their luck at the Marvel Marathon.

Halfway through the movie Christen realized that a movie was perhaps the worst way to make her thoughts about the other girl vanish. She had grown tired and started to lean on the other girl and before she could move away, Tobin had slipped and arm around her. Christen knew that she should probably just get up and go to the bathroom and then when she came back, she could fix the situation, but she was extremely comfy, and Tobin smelled good and she really didn’t want to get up. The two didn’t move until the credits were rolling and they wanted to change for bed. 

“Here, it gets kind of hot in here at night, so I don’t think you’ll need more then a t-shirt and shorts.” Tobin tossed her the items she pulled out of the drawer then directed her across the hall to the bathroom. She took her time changing. It began to hit her that she would be sleeping in the same bed as Tobin because that’s what friends did at sleepovers. The only difference is Christen was already sweating due to nervousness and she would get zero sleep next to Tobin. She brushed her teeth with the toothbrush Tobin had let her borrow and splashed water on her face to cool down before finally heading back to Tobin’s room. 

Tobin already laid in bed with her eyes closed, but they opened as soon as Christen had walked in. “My parents asked if tomorrow I could pick up some cookies at the bakery down the street. Would you want to come? If you don’t want to you can just hang here with the girls.” Christen climbed into the bed giving Tobin a nod.

“Sounds good.” The only response back was a quick ‘cool’ from Tobin before the lamp light was shut off and Christen felt the other girl settle down. Minutes into the silence Christen still couldn’t sleep. Her stomach was turning, and she didn’t know what to do. Before she could think of anything a surprisingly muscular arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer. She could now feel Tobin’s breath against her neck and body pressed against her back. What surprised Christen the most is how she melted into the lanky frame behind her and slowly drifted to sleep a few minutes later.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christen is a little bit stupid again and they're both oblivious. In the next chapter some other characters begin to realize these idiots like each other and I might have the two sides come together to cook up a master plan. 🥣🦏

The morning after Tobin woke up confused. Curly hair covered her face and a warm body against her front. A familiar sent of mango hit her and she realized it was Christen. Tobin had always been a clinger. She tended to shift closer to a person while she slept. Her face grew beat res when she attempted to get her arm back, but one was stuck under the younger girl. She decided instead to lay there in the peaceful quite until Christen woke up.

10 minutes later the green-eyed girl stirred awake and turned around only to let out a surprised squeak and fall out of the bed. The girl who remained in the bed began to die laughing before leaning over the side. “Are you ok Press? Didn’t mean to scare you I was just a little stuck under you ya know” she said as she got up and helped the girl off the floor and onto her feet.

“I’m all good. Might have a little bruise later but it doesn’t really hurt. Tobin nodded and gave her a thumbs up before checking her phone. “I’m assuming we need to head to the bakery soon?” Christen asked as she stretched out her tight back. 

“Yeah” Tobin stated while going around the bed to open the shades. “I realized the bakery is really close to your house if you want to just grab a change of clothes for later. This way your friends don’t have to bring you any” she spoke while slipping on socks. Christen nodded in agreement. “Also, I wasn’t planning on showering or changing into something my mom would deem somewhat presentable until we get back, but if we stop by your place I don’t mind waiting if you want to shower at your house as well."

“That would be great. My hair kind of needs specific products or else it just isn’t going to cooperate.” Tobin chuckled as she grabbed her keys off her dresser and tossed Christen a hoodie knowing that it was a little cold this morning and wouldn’t warm up until the afternoon. “Although, if we’re swimming later washing my hair isn’t the best option. Still It’ll give me a chance to get my stuff together.”

The two set off on their adventure saying good morning to Mrs. Heath who was making coffee in the kitchen to bring back to bed for herself and Mr. Heath. The drive to the bakery was short and Tobin bought cookies and muffins for later making sure to get the kinds that were texted to her by the girls. When they began the drive to Christen’s she didn’t need any help with navigation due to the amount of times she had dropped Lindsey off and picked Mal up from the Press house. 

Tobin was led upstairs to Christen’s room which had its own bathroom connected to it. She was told to just hang out and that Christen wouldn’t take long in the shower. When the other girl left her, Tobin was able to examine the space she was in. Christen’s walls were a calming grey with some soccer posters covering them. There was also a corkboard with pictures of friends and family that made Tobin smile. The room seemed so Christen and the little bonsai tree that sat on the bedside table only added to the feeling of calmness and serenity that emitted from the walls. Tobin didn’t think she would ever like a room so plain seeming, but Christen’s felt warm and nice and smelled like her. Before Tobin’s thoughts could continue any deeper Christen Press entered the room only in a towel and Tobin was pretty sure she had just died and gone to heaven right there and then. 

“I completely forgot my stuff, so I just have to…Tobin are you okay?” The girl in questions face was bright red and she seemed to be in some sort of daze “You don’t have a fever, do you?” Christen stepped forward to press her hand against the brown-eyed girl’s forehead but Tobin shot backwards.

“I’m fine it’s just a little hot inhere” she nervously laughed and rubbed the back of her neck. “I think I’m going to um go down to the car and wait so we can head right out. Just…take your time there’s no need to rush so yeah ha.” Tobin quickly spun around and ended up running straight into the door frame and falling back with a groan. Today was not starting out that great for her.

“Oh my God, Tobin!” The toweled girl rushed over but before she could get to her Tobin scrambled to her feet and to the door as quickly as possible. “Are you sure you aren’t sick? You seem to be acting…irrationally. If you want, you can lay down and after I get dressed, I can check your temperature and see if I have anything that might help you out. Maybe even just some Tylenol?” Christen was met with a furious head shake. 

“100% doing great. I’ll see you outside Chris.” The senior bolted out the door and to her car as fast as possible. Her breathing didn’t calm down until she sat for a whole 5 minutes trying to reel her thoughts in. Christen Press should not be making her turn red or run into door frames, but she was. “I’m so fucking screwed” Tobin yelled while hitting her head back on the chair. Moments later Christen came out, fully dressed thankfully, and Tobin schooled her features, not wanting Christen to read her thoughts that had been so clearly written all over her face.

The drive back was spent in silence, but it was a good kind of silence Tobin decided. One that calmed you down. When they pulled back into the Heath driveway Christen helped Tobin carry in one of the muffin boxes her other hand carrying her bag of clothes. Tobin had begun to realize that she would now have to see Christen in a bikini and she wasn’t sure how she would handle that.

The kids were already up and dressed and Kelley and Alyssa stood outside with Mr. Heath who was preparing the grill. It was 11 now and the soccer girls would be arriving at around 12. Christen headed outside while Tobin showered and threw on a bikini and fresh clothes. All that was needed today was a tank top and her favorite pair of yellow shorts that her mom disliked so much. Her outfit was completed with a hat that she prayed didn’t end up thrown in the pool this time around.

“Yo Tobes, help us out over here!” Kelley waved her over to join her, Alyssa, and Christen in carrying bowls of chips, dip and other snacks to the porch table. The 4 were able to finish setting everything up by 11:45. The only casualty was Kelley being tossed into the pool by Lindsey.

12 rolled around and heating trays were filled with food. With their jobs finished Tobin and Lindsey’s parents took their leave after giving their daughters embarrassing kisses to the head. Mr. Heath had to head to Connecticut for work and Mrs. Heath would be joining him. The trip would go until Wednesday, so Cindy was taking some vacation days. The two definitely needed some sort of break after the hectic summer they had dealt with. The soccer team pulled up to the house a little later with bags of requested food. Christen and Alyssa ran to greet their teammates with smiles and of course Alyssa greeted Becky with a kiss and a hug. 

“Let’s get this party started!!” Kelley yelled as she charged the soccer team with a bucket of water but was halted by Tobin who took the bucket from her. “Hey! What the heck dude? I was getting the party started!” Kelley pouted at her friend, but the bucket was not given back to her.

“Kelley, they’re carrying food that you asked for. We are not soaking the food or them.” She stated before grinning and dumping the water on Kelley’s head causing the freckled girl to scream and shove Tobin backwards who was laughing so hard, she fall on her ass. “Sorry dude, but you know I had to do that. You basically handed that to me on a silver platter.” Tobin patted her friend on the back before going over to help the new arrivals with their things. “Feel free to grab food whenever you want. If you guys stay later into the night, we like to get the fire pit going and roast marshmallows. I will state this now though, just because my parents are not here there will be no consuming of anything illegal. With the kids here that’s a big no. However, if they later go inside to the basement to hang out, I will gladly hand out the beers that Kelley brought with her.” The girls all gave her nods, yes’s, and thumbs up to let her know they understood before heading to the pool area to lay out towels and hang out. 

“Tobin!” Lindsey cam running up to her big sister with a wide grin on her face. It was the type of grin that spelled trouble. “Could you set up the pool volleyball net? Now that there’s more people we could play a giant game of chaotic pool volleyball like we do when the rest of our family comes over.” Tobin began having flashbacks to the war. It was 2016 and the whole Heath extended family along with Kelley, Alyssa, Sam, and Rose were over the house and one of Tobin and Lindsey’s older cousins suggested a giant game of pool volleyball. Each side squeezed in about 15 players and there were many elbows to the face and kicks to the ribs that day. Tobin knew that her sister wouldn’t take no for an answer, so she just sighed and began to set up the net while Lindsey announced the game to everyone. Those who had been there that dark day were wide eyed at Lindsey’s words. Even Kelley, who had jumped into Tobin’s moving car and then rolled out the other side because she wanted to be James Bond, looked nervous. Unfortunately, the backyard was filled with a bunch of competitive soccer players who lived to win.

An hour later Tobin was hauling herself out of the pool in pain. Sonnett had hit her hard with a flailing hand and she was now over pool volleyball completely. A few other minor hits caused her to throw in the towel as well. Most of the other girls had stayed in the pool though. Tobin found it hilarious to see the usually serious Captain Becky flinging herself at every shot that came her way. Alex Morgan was also spiking balls and yelling at teammates to get their heads in the game. Instead of being in the chaos Tobin chose to sit back and just watch it happen. The game eventually ended, but most of the girls decided to just lounge together in the water and chat. It was a perfect day to relax in the pool. However, Christen soon joined Tobin on the lounge chairs.

“Man, you weren’t lying when you said things got intense here. I thought I was going to end up dead with the amount of kicks to the thigh I took” the green-eyed girl said with a smile on her face. “If I had known I was missing out on these types of parties we would’ve been hanging out much sooner Tobin Heath.” At that Tobin grinned and rolled over to face Christen. 

“Better late than never, right?” Christen laughed and nodded also rolling onto her side so she could speak more clearly to the other girl. Tobin found it so much harder to focus when she was looking into Christen’s eyes. Man could she get lost in those. No! No, Tobin don’t go thinking those thoughts. She’s Mal’s older sister. This is a big no. In the back of her mind though, Tobin knew that soon enough she would crack, and those thoughts would seep back to the forefront of her mind.

Coming from the pool was a loud scream and Christen and Tobin bolted upright to see the end of what had been a chicken fight. Kelley stood, yes stood not sat, on Alyssa’s shoulders yelling that she was the champion of the world while Ali came up for air after being pushed from Ashlyn’s shoulders. It wasn’t long before the losing keeper lunged forward and shoved the yelling girl off of Alyssa and into the pool. The minute she hit the bottom of the pool Kelley explode up and began an onslaught of splashing attacks and soon chaos had once again started. It was now a war between the kids (including Kelley and Alyssa) versus the rest of the varsity squad. At want point Kelley ended up being lifted by Ashlyn and yelled for Tobin’s help.

“Well Christen, looks like my service is needed. Hopefully, I’ll return from the war.” Christen rolled her eyes and giggle at Tobin’s words. Her giggle turned into full out laughter as she watched the tan girl leap into the pool and onto Ashlyn’s back, successfully pulling her under and freeing Kelley. Ali, Alex, and Allie had finally hauled ass into the grass when they realized that the younger girls and their older friends were at this point professionals of pool chaos and they weren’t going to win. The others soon followed leaving only Ashlyn in the water because Kelley and Tobin had managed to both get on top of her. 

“We have defeated the army of hot soccer girls and stole their mighty steed!” Kelley shouted which earned a laugh from everyone except Ashlyn who began to argue that she was not in fact their mighty steed. “Hush, peasant! We are the rulers of Poolandia and as one of the rulers I decree that we begin roasting marshmallows!” Everyone broke out into laughter and the rest of the girls (and the mighty steed) got out of the water. Alyssa and Tobin went off to grab the fire pit and get it set up. 

It didn’t take long for the fire to get started and Tobin to make it back to her chair. Sadly, Christen was up and chatting with some of her teammates instead of waiting for her. Tobin wasn’t alone for long though, because soon Morgan Brian was plopping down next to her. Tobin didn’t really know Morgan, but she seemed like a cool person to chat with. Plus, out of all the girls that had come today she seemed like one of the more relaxed ones. More like Tobin’s kind of flow. 

There was a few minutes of silence, but Morgan eventually turned to face her. “Ya know what Heath? You’re pretty cool. I didn’t know how today was going to go, but I’m having a good time.” This caused a smile to grow on Tobin’s face. “Also, I was in your house using the bathroom and I saw a Nintendo Switch. You play?” This caught the other girl’s attention quickly.

“Heck yeah. I’m the champion of Mario Kart in this household. Lindsey kind of sucks so beating her isn’t really a big competition, but me and my dad get pretty heated when we play each other.” Morgan laughed at the thought of Tobin and her dad in a battle for the mushroom cup. Something about it seemed really funny. Maybe it was because she struggled to picture that in her brain since all she knew of Tobin was a few of the rumors that were once whispered down the halls. Morgan quickly decided those rumors definitely weren’t true.

“Well, I constantly have to play against Allie and Julie and they absolutely suck at it. So, I guess that kind of makes me champion on the soccer team. Even the legendary Alex Morgan in all her competitive glory couldn’t take 1st from me.” The teammates who had switches usually brought them on the bus and Morgan felt like she needed a more competitive player to battle. “Since they’re busy put here, want to play a few rounds?” Tobin immediately hopped off the chair and made her way inside with Morgan close behind her. 

The two of them played until the rest of the team came in to find Morgan because they were leaving. “I’ll see you later Tobin. I will get my revenge!” The girl gave Tobin a quick hug and the rest of the team thanked the older Heath and began to head out the door. Christen hung back with a slight frown on her face as her friends left the house loudly talking about the next hangout at the Heath residents that Lindsey had invited them to. 

“So…you and Morgan have fun?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. Christen didn’t really understand what the feeling in the pit of her stomach was but it didn’t feel good. Something about seeing her friend hug Tobin just bothered her and left a bad taste in her mouth. She wasn’t jealous. She couldn’t be, because her and Tobin were not dating and never would.

Tobin nodded with that same big smile on her face that in the past week had been making Christen smile back but this time her face remained passive. “Oh yeah. She’s pretty darn good at Mario Kart. I’m glad I finally have some real competition. Turns out we both like horror movies too, so we were planning on her maybe coming over next weekend to binge some new releases so we can make fun of how bad they are and then watch some classics that will actually scare us” she said as she made her way around the house cleaning up. Alyssa had gone home with Becky and Kelley had to go home because apparently her mom found the slice of pizza, she hadn’t eaten 2 days ago under her bed and she was not a happy camper. 

All Christen could do was deepen her frown. Her brain was currently at war. One side told her that she shouldn’t care if Tobin liked Moe, while the other side told her to walk right over there and kiss the heck out of the oblivious girl. Christen most definitely was not kissing Tobin right now so the other side was winning. “Well, that’s nice. I just realized that I don’t have my car and I know Mal was going to sleepover so, is it cool if maybe you drove me home? I totally understand if you can’t. I can just ask my parents.” Tobin was now looking at Christen with a confused face.

“Oh, I thought you were just going to stay the night again. If you’re worried about being a bother, I assure you you’re not. I enjoy your company Press.” Tobin gave her a soft smile. This one did melt Christen a little bit, but she knew she had to stay strong. The more she stayed here the longer she would feel all weird and maybe kind of sort of jealous about Tobin and Moe hanging out together. 

“No, I’d really rather go home. I’m tired and I have some homework to get done, but thanks for the offer.” All the other girl could do was frown and nod. She could tell by Christen’s voice there was something wrong, but she wasn’t going to push her to give her answers. Instead, she walked into the kitchen to get her keys. Christen said bye to the girls and followed Tobin outside and into the Jeep.

This time the ride was not full of nice silence. It was a suffocating silence that Tobin didn’t like. She felt like she needed to know what was wrong, but she was afraid that if she asked the younger girl would get even more upset. Once she pulled up beside the Press house she sighed and shut the car off. “Welp, I’ll see you Mon…” Before she could finish her sentence Christen Press was out of her car with a quick ‘bye’ and a slight slam of the door as she seemingly raced to her house. Confused, Tobin pulled away from her house with a frown wondering what in the world could’ve made her Christen that upset. All she could do for now was shrug and head back home saying a prayer that the house was still standing when she got there.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My update schedule is going to be extremely sporadic the next coming week because second semester has decided to kick my ass. Until this Saturday you can expect a stream of chapters coming in because I'm unsure of how much I'll be able to do later on. There's a lot in my brain that I need to get down on paper before I forget and can't add it in later which Is why there have been so many updates lately. Anyway, that is all. Have a good day and let me know what other POVs you want to see. 🥣🦏

Three days had gone by and Christen had managed to avoid Tobin’s gaze. She began to try even harder when Moe sat at the trios table Tuesday and all Christen could hear was loud laughter from the group. She was internally fuming, and her teammates had begun to see something off about her. When she walked over to her lunch table that day, the group went silent and looked at her. “Um…is there something on my face?” She was met with silence, so she decided to just ignore it and begin taking out her lunch. However, the minute she sat down Julie put her a hand on her shoulder and gave her a weird look. 

“Christen the past couple of days you haven’t really been yourself. You keep getting frustrated in classes and you don’t really join in on the conversations during lunch. Is something going on?” Her friend’s voice was laced with concern. Now that she was actually looking around at her teammates, they all looked concerned for her. She didn’t think she was making her anger that obvious, but it looks like she was wrong. 

Before Christen could answer her friend she caught a figure moving towards Tobin’s lunch table. It was Morgan. Her face changed from neutral to slightly angered and the rest of the table noticed. Crystal’s eyes followed Christen’s and suddenly she was met with clear realization. She knew her friend and her different expressions and this one screamed jealousy. It was the same look that graced her face in 7th grade when Tommy Woods gave Emma Winser a better Valentine’s Day card and Christen realized she wasn’t completely straight. 

“Oh my God” Crystal muttered before her eyes widened even more as she finally was hit with what was really happening “OH MY GOD!” Now the whole table was looking at her confused including Christen. “Chris, do you maybe have a thing for Tobin Heath?” At this question the whole table erupted into chaos. Some of the girls excitingly talking about how cute they would be while others said there was no way Christen liked Tobin Heath because they had nothing in common and she didn’t seem like Christen’s type. Throughout all this Christen was trying to deny Crystal’s thought while also mumbling that her and Tobin weren’t THAT different. 

All the quick talking and shouting was ended when Becky hit her hands against the table. Everyone immediately sat up straighter and all eyes were on their captain. “We aren’t going to get anywhere if all we do is yell and loudly argue. Christen, if you maybe like Tobin that’s okay. She’s cool. If you don’t like Tobin that’s okay too. However, what isn’t okay is you feeling upset about something.” Everyone nodded in agreement. They didn’t want to see their friend hurt for some reason. “Can you please tell us what’s bothering you?” No words were able to leave her mouth though, because Moe was on her way over and sitting down in her usual seat. This seat just happened to be next to Christen.

“Hey guys!” Morgan said excitedly clearly unable to see something was going on. “Get this, Tobin said while she was hanging out near the lab rooms, she heard Fabrice telling some of his friends that he was going to ask me out soon!” When none of the girls reacted the was, she thought they would the girl frowned and looked around the silent table. “Is everything okay?” It was Christen who spoke up.

“Wait, you like Fabrice?” she said dumbly. Suddenly, the green-eyed girl knew she had messed up. “Tobin…told you that Fabrice liked you…and you also like him…which means…” Everyone was once again staring at her as she slowly pieced together the puzzle in her brain. “I am so stupid!” She shot up like a rocket and placed a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “I am so sorry for any of the rude thoughts I may or may not have had about you. Jealous Christen isn’t the best person. Now, I have to go. Wish me luck ladies.” No one was able to comprehend what she meant or wish her a good luck though, because Christen was booking it to the table where Tobin and her friends sat.

The conversation at the trio’s table halted the minute they saw Christen rushing over. Tobin wasn’t sure what was about to happen. She had gotten the hint that maybe Christen didn’t even like her as a friend and was only being civil with her to make Mal happy. She really didn’t want to get yelled at or scolded right now, but she stayed and waited. Tobin wanted an explanation for Christen’s attitude towards her and the only way she was going to get it was if she let Christen speak.

Christen didn’t speak though. Not when she got to the table. Instead, she was picking Tobin up by the arm and dragging her out of the cafeteria as quickly as possible. A wide-eyed Tobin turned her head around to look at her friends in confusion in hopes they would have an answer for why she was being dragged out of the cafeteria, but all she got was the same look she wore on her face back. Tobin was preparing for a fight in her mind. Did she like Christen? Yes. However, with the amount of shit she took in middle school she wasn’t letting someone push her around just because she had a crush on them.

“Alright Press, what did I do…” Christen cut Tobin off with…her hand. The look on Christen’s face was one pleading for Tobin to be quiet and just let her talk. With a sigh Tobin nodded to let Christen know she wouldn’t interrupt whatever she was going to say, and the hand was moved. 

Christen took in a shaky breath before starting. “I wanted to apologize…again. I didn’t mean to ignore you or anything and I wasn’t mad at you I just…” Tobin looked on waiting for her to continue. She clearly wanted an explanation for Christen’s behavior, but the junior didn’t know what to say. If she told her the truth than Tobin would know that she liked her more than a friend and she didn’t think she could handle rejection from the older girl. “I’ve just been having an off week. Junior year has hit me hard and I wasn’t really ready for the amount of homework I’d be given and I’m…” this time Tobin cut Christen off by pulling her into a hug. 

“I get it Chris. Junior year is hard, and it can make you feel stressed. Just promise me that next time you’ll just talk to me and maybe I can help you out?” Tobin pulled away and gave Christen her signature smile, but all Christen could think is how much colder she felt without Tobin’s arms wrapped around her. “I mean it doesn’t have to be me, but I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener.” 

Christen felt guilty. She had lied to Tobin and now the other girl was being so nice and understanding. Deep down she knew if Tobin rejected her, she would make sure to do it nicely, but she had already lied at this point and she felt like there was no going back. If she told Tobin she was lying it would probably end with the other girl being more upset. “Thanks Tobes. I have to head to class now, but I’ll see you later. Okay? No ignoring you this time.” If she thought she had seen Tobin’s biggest and brightest smile before, she had thought wrong. The senior gave her another quick hug and told her that if she wanted after school, they could grab some food and do homework together at her house before bounding down the hallway. 

Christen sighed and turned the corner only to be met with her teammates giving her “the look”. She just rolled her eyes and began walking, knowing those who had free with her would follow and update the others on what was going on. There was no escaping this interrogation. Julie, Allie, Alex, and Ashlyn would get something out of her whether she liked it or not. The door to the library closed behind them and now there was no where for Christen to run. All she could do was sit at their usual table and wait for the questions to begin. Hopefully, it was more civil then the chaos that happened at lunch. 

“Chris, girl please tell me we did not just hear you tell Tobin that the reason you’ve been avoiding her is because your classes are giving you too much work. You literally get everything done days in advanced and you tutor not only lower grade and our grade, but also seniors!” Allie was yelling by the end of her rant. Christen knew that her friend was right, but she didn’t think it was the time to tell Tobin her feelings. She barely knew the girl! 

Ashlyn put a hand on Allie’s shoulder to quiet her down. “We understand that you might not be ready to tell Tobin how you feel and the only way to avoid that was to lie.” Every other girl began to open their mouths in disagreement, but Ash held her hand up to silence them. “However, I believe that Tobin does have feelings for you as well. I agree that you need to get to know each other better, but you shouldn’t be afraid of making your feelings known. At the pool party she didn’t stop staring at you. I caught her a few times and man did she turn red and try to cover it up. Make a move Chris. Ask her to hang maybe just as friends and you’ll see what I mean.” Everyone grew quiet for a moment before Alex spoke up.

“Ash is right. She was practically drooling over you every time you walked by” she stated. Suddenly, the tension in the room was gone and all the girls began excitingly talking about how Christen should ask Tobin out and where they should go. Christen suddenly felt a lot more confident about Tobin’s feelings for her. She told the girls that she would find her after school and ask her out to dinner. They all began to make a list of the pros and cons of all the diners and restaurants in town. Ashlyn just sat back and pulled out her phone to tell the rest of the team that all was good here. Now all they had to was sit and wait for Christen to step up to the plate and go for what she wanted.


	11. Chapter 11

“So that’s all she said? That junior year was hard? Dude, she’s like the smartest girl in the damn school!” Kelley shouted only to be shushed by their chem teacher. Tobin smacked her friend in the back of the head while giving their teacher an apologetic look. “Also, why are you here? You never come to math. You hate this class with a burning passion. You hate all your classes with a burning passion dude.” At this Tobin turned bright red and mumbled something incoherent. “What was that? Speak louder dude.”

Tobin sighed and looked down at her hands. “Christen said she would see me later and after not talking for a few days I didn’t…ya know what actually, I don’t have to explain anything to you” she said before turning to face the teacher for once. Her face was still bright red and she could feel Kelley’s eyes burning into the side of her face. She knew she was about to be made fun of and laughed at by her friend for sounding so stupid. 

“Dude, this is great!” That earned another shush from their teacher. “You actually like someone Tobes. After all the hook ups you’ve finally found someone you really want to hang out with. That’s awesome.” Tobin was shocked while Kelley bounced in her chair with a big smile on her face. She was not expecting this one bit. She was sure that her friend would make fun of her until she got so irritated that she shoved her out off the lab stool. Instead, she was being encouraged to go after Christen. 

All that Kelley was met with was silence. She knew Tobin wouldn’t want to really talk about this right now and that she probably felt vulnerable. Tobin may act tough but, on the inside, she was an absolute softy. She hoped that her friend would make a move. Tobin hadn’t had an actual girlfriend in…well ever. She did hook ups every few weeks, but nothing ever stuck. Kelley thought that a relationship would help stabilize her friend who often times had bad days and struggled to come out of her room. It was rarer now that she wasn’t bullied, but it still sometimes crept back up on her. Sure her and Alyssa would always have her back, but she had a feeling that someone like Christen would keep her on track.

The rest of the class period passed on silently, and when the bell rang Kelley watched Tobin head straight to her next class instead of out the front doors. Before she could get to her locker, she was stopped by their other friend who wore a confused look on her face. “Did I just see Tobin go to History? Like actually walk into the classroom?” the keeper asked with shock written all over her face. All Kelley could do was nod before she had to rush to the other side of the school for her next class. She would fill Alyssa in later, but right now she had a test to get to.

Math and History went by quicker than Tobin thought they ever would. She was nervous. She hadn’t seen Christen for the rest of the day and now she was worried that she wouldn’t see her at all. They hadn’t exchanged numbers so there was no way for her to text her. She felt stupid for feeling this way and all she wanted to do now was go home and sit in her room embarrassed for even thinking for a second that someone like Christen would actually like her. She decided to make her way to the senior lot without waiting for Kelley or Alyssa because she didn’t want them to see her face. They would know something was wrong immediately, and she wasn’t feeling like being interrogated by her friends right now. She came to a halt when her car came into view. Leaning against it was Christen Press and when they made eye contact the other girl gave Tobin a bright smile and a wave.

“Hey Tobes. How was the rest of your day?” The brown-eyed girl stood there for a moment in shock before finally realizing she had been asked a question and she should probably answer it before she looked even more stupid. 

“It was pretty good. Classes seemed to go by in a flash I guess.” She shrugged while looking anywhere but Christen’s green eyes that always seemed to pull her in. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but did you need something?” she asked glancing up at Christen to make sure no hurt showed on the girl’s face from her question. Instead all she got was another blinding smile.

“Well, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get dinner with me tonight? I was hoping we could just go to Miss Sally’s Diner since it’s nice and quiet there. Does that work for you?” Tobin stood rooted to her spot unsure of how to answer. Was she getting asked out by Christen Press? The girl who she originally wanted to hate, but then realized was really pretty and made her all nervous and sweaty. There’s no way this is anything more then a friend thing. “Oh, and I wanted to grab your number so I don’t have to keep hoping to just bump into you in the halls and we can actually talk outside of school. Christen handed Tobin her phone and the girl slowly fumbled to type her number in. It was extra hard with her hands slightly shaking. “So is this a yes to dinner?” Tobin dumbly nodded. “Awesome! Could you pick me up at 7?” Another nod. “Great! It’s a date. I’ll see you tonight Tobes.” With that Christen leaned in and pecked her cheek before heading towards where the rest of the student body parked. 

“It’s a date.” Tobin mumbled to herself. “Holy shit she said it was a date.” Her eyes widened and she bolted back to the school to find her friends. When she spotted them, she ran down the hall not caring who she bumped into and grabbed them both by a shoulder. “I have a date with Christen Press, and I need both of you at my house now cause I have no idea what to wear or how to act and please help me.” Both of her friends took a minute to laugh at Tobin’s worried look before pulling her down the hall and back where she had come from. They all got to their cars and met at Tobin’s house to plan and prep for her date.

The hours went by in seconds and soon Tobin was looking in the mirror as Kelley straightened her shirt out. “Looking good Toby. We did good Lyss” The two high-fived at their work. Tobin wore a clean and for once not wrinkled white t-shirt, a bomber jacket on top, dark skinny jeans, and her favorite Jordan’s on her feet. She even thought that she looked pretty good. The diner they were going to wasn’t fancy which was good because she had nothing nice like that to wear. In fact, it was one that Tobin and her friends spent every Saturday morning at. The O’Hara’s were good friends with the couple that owned the place, Sally and Hank and their families all had brunch their on Sunday’s as well. The Heath’s, O’Hara’s and Naeher’s had a lot of Sunday morning memories there it was a place they would always love. 

“Don’t be nervous Tobes. You got this. Everything will go well, and if anything does happen Sally works the counter Friday nights and will definitely watch out for you.” Alyssa patted Tobin’s shoulder while they ushered her out the door. “We’ll be here when you get back bud. Go have fun. The two had promised Tobin they would sleep over that night. The Heath’s didn’t mind one bit knowing that if anything went wrong on the date Tobin would need her friend’s support. 

Before Tobin could leave her dad intercepted her. “Tobin, looking good kid.” He smiled at his oldest daughter. “Remember kid, you’re a Heath. You got game. Christen won’t know what hit her. You got the Heath charm.” Tobin couldn’t help but laugh when her mom hit her dad in the arm.

“Enough of that Jeff” her mom said, but she wore a smile on her face from her husband’s antics. “You’ll be fine Tobin just be yourself and treat her right.” Her mom kissed her on the forehead and her dad pulled her in for a hug, making sure to whisper, ‘the Heath charm always works kid’, before she finally made her way to her car and began the drive to Christen’s. Her palms were sweaty against the steering wheel and she began to feel extremely nervous when the house came into sight.

The nervousness only got worse when she was actually in front of the door. “Calm down Tobin. You’re a Heath. You have the Heath charm, you’ll be fine.” With that she knocked on the door and waited patiently for it to be opened. It only took a minute for someone to answer. Christen stood there in a simple sweater, jeans and boots but man did she look incredible. “Hey.” Tobin managed to get out.

“Hey.” Christen said back smiling. She couldn’t help but look Tobin up and down. She greatly appreciated her choice of skinny jeans because she could now see the incredible calf muscles the girl had. Man if only she didn’t wear sweatpants to school every day. “You ready to go?” Tobin smiled now and nodded getting to the car to open the door for Christen who giggle at the gesture.

“Let’s get going.” Tobin said as she pulled out of the Press’s driveway and headed towards the diner. She had begun to get nervous again, but all that went away when her hand that tapped against the center console of the car was suddenly being held by the girl in the passenger seat. She looked over and smiled when she met Christen’s eyes before taking in a breath and feeling a lot better about this. She was sure now that this date was going to be a great one and nothing was going to get in the way of that.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick question for you guys. I want something else to be writing while I write this so I don't get bored and can have something a little different to write. What would you guy want to see from a preath fic? Please let me know. 🥣🦏

Miss Sally’s diner wasn’t full today. Most people came for breakfast and dinner was a much quieter time. The minute they walked in Tobin was pulled in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Tobin! What are you doing here? You never come for dinner. Where are the other rascals?” Miss Sally asked with a smile on her face. It only got bigger when she noticed Christen. “Oh, I see you a have a guest that I’ve never met before. It’s very nice to meet you dear. You did good Tobin.” The older woman winked and her and Tobin’s face began to heat up while Christen laughed.

“I’m Christen. It’s nice to meet you too and I think if anyone did good here it was me.” Christen linked her hand with Tobin’s and smiled brightly. Miss Sally chuckled as she patted a very embarrassed Tobin on the back. 

“She’s a keeper young lady. Go head on over to your usual booth and I’ll be right over to grab your order.” The old woman headed back to the counter to finish what she had been doing while Tobin led Christen over to a booth that sat in a corner on the far side of the diner. It was the same booth she sat in every time she came here with her friends. They would all try to squish in and the last ones to get to the booth had to pull chairs up and connect a smaller table at the end of it. The booth had slowly gotten tighter as they got older and had to fit more of Lindsey’s friends in with them.

The girls slid into the booth and the whole time Christen never let go over hand. Now she held it on the table not wanting to lose the connection. “I’m gonna assume that you come here often with your friends huh?” Christen herself had only been to the little diner once or twice. Her friends and her often liked to go out to the city to eat and have fun. Her parents also enjoyed taking her and Mal out to walk around Boston and get some food in the North End. She didn’t really hang around the small town much. She enjoyed the busyness of a big city but sitting here in the quiet diner with Tobin felt nice.

“Yeah, Kelley’s parents are really good friends with Sally and her husband Hank. We’ve been coming here on Sunday’s after church since we were little. Miss Sally is probably the only one who can convince me to go to school most of the time. She always gives me this look of disappointment when she asks me how it’s going, and I have nothing to tell her cause I haven’t gone.” Tobin smiled at how caring the woman was and how much she helped Tobin get out of her gloomy mood. “Once we got our licenses we began coming here on Saturday’s too. It’s also where I drive to when I’m upset. She always gives me pancakes on the house.” The soft smile on Tobin’s face made Christen melt a little bit. 

Before Christen could respond, Miss Sally was bustling over to take her order. Tobin blushed when she ordered a stack of chocolate chip pancaked for dinner and Christen giggled at the order. Christen decided to follow her lead and get some as well which brought a smile to the other girl’s face. Miss Sally promised her it would be the best pancakes she ever had before heading towards the kitchen to give them the order. “Wow, the best pancakes I’ll ever have. That’s a pretty bold statement.”

“Trust me, they’re awesome. It’s all I ever order. My mom still likes to say one day I’m going to turn into a pancake.” Tobin shrugged and grinned as Christen   
laughed again. She would make it her mission to make her laugh as much as possible. “So are you excited for soccer season? I know you guys really want to win states this season after coming so close last year.” This surprised to other girl. She didn’t think Tobin was big on sports especially the ones at school. She never noticed her at them at least.

“Oh, yeah we’re totally ready to work hard and get that trophy. I didn’t know you came to the games. Do you like soccer?” 

“No, I just enjoy going to the gym and going on runs. I used to play, but I kind of lost the want to play anymore cause…stuff. I’ve always gone to the games to support Alyssa though. I went to the freshman one’s last year for Lindsey and the girls as well.” Christen had totally forgotten that Tobin had a friend on the team and a sister playing as well. She was a little embarrassed for hoping that maybe Tobin had noticed her and was watching her at the games. Of course that wasn’t true though. Tobin had no reason to notice her. 

Miss Sally came out of the kitchen soon with two plates of triple stacks that looked and smelled amazing. “Here you go ladies. Enjoy and Tobin I expect a goodbye before you leave.” Tobin promised the older woman she would before getting ready to dig in. She looked up and gave Christen an expectant look. The curly haired girl rolled her eyes and to a bite out of her food and was immediately hit with the best tasting pancakes she had ever eaten. The minute it hit her tongue she let out a low moan and Tobin choked on the food she had put in her mouth. 

“Holy shit this is so good. Are you good Tobin?” All the girl could do was nod and hit her chest trying to clear her airways. Eventually, she was able to breath normally. She prayed that for the rest of this dinner Christen didn’t make that noise cause it was making her think things that she really shouldn’t be during dinner. “You’re going to have to take me here more often. These pancakes are awesome, and I definitely want to try all the other kinds.” 

“Well, I guess we’re going to have to have another date then.” Tobin wasn’t sure where that came from, but she was glad she said it because Christen blushed and smiled while giving her a small nod in agreement. She really liked Christen and had never really felt this way before about any of the girls she talked to. Christen made her feel good which was pretty rare. The only time she felt this good was when she was with Kelley, Alyssa, and the kids having a fun time. It was a good distraction, but she wanted something that didn’t include falling out of trees and yelling at the TV while playing video games. She wanted something calming and relaxing and if the way to obtain that was dating Christen then she would gladly do it. 

The girls spent the night just laughing and having a good time. Eventually, Tobin stopped blushing so much and her palms stopped getting so sweaty. She started to really enjoy the night and was a bit sad when it was ending. Tobin made sure to give Miss Sally a hug and she smiled even bigger when she pulled Christen in for one as well. She left with a promise that she would still be there tomorrow with the girls as well as Christen saying that she would be there as well. Tobin opened the passenger door open for the green-eyed girl which earned her a kiss on the cheek and her smile grew even bigger.

“Do you think we could maybe go to the park before you drop me off? It’s always so nice there at night and I haven’t been able to do it in forever.” Even if Tobin wanted to say no, which she didn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to with the look she was getting from the girl next to her. She had already realized that saying no to Christen would never be a thing unless something really drastic or crazy happened. 

The two sat in the grass at the park and after a few minutes Christen’s head laid in Tobin’s shoulder. Tobin slipped her arm around Christen’s waist with no hesitation and pulled her a bit closer. Everything finally felt right. Tobin was so used to chaos in her life, but now she had a piece of silence that she could enjoy. The night air was cool against their skin, but they felt warm being next to each other. 

The silence was broken by Christen when she turned to face the brown-eyed girl. “Tobin?” She got a hum in response. “Can I…never mind.” Christen huffed and put her head back against the strong shoulder. Tobin frowned at the hesitance. She had a feeling she knew what Christen was going to ask.

“Hey Chris?” This time it was her receiving a hummed response. “Would you just kiss me already?” At that Christen’s head shot up and her eyes were wide, but the shock cleared eventually, and she pulled Tobin closer until their lips connected and all she felt was fire. Kissing Tobin felt incredible. The girl’s lips were soft, and she was kissing her with purpose. She finally pulled back when Tobin was laying on her back with her hands gripping Christen’s waist as the girl straddled her.

She didn’t want to go fast, and she hoped Tobin would understand. Tobin leaned up and kissed her one last time before Christen got off her lap. The taller girl stood and helped pull Tobin off the ground. “I’m sorry, I just don’t want to go to fast. I want to take it slow and get to know you more. I understand if that isn’t watch you want but…” Before she could finish Tobin was laughing and shaking her head. 

“Chris, I get it. I want to take it slow and get to know you too. You’re clearly worth it.” Christen blushed and kissed Tobin quickly before getting a mischievous look on her face. Tobin raised her eyebrow at the look. 

“Race ya to the car!” Before Tobin could register what Christen had yelled the other girl was racing off to the parking lot. “Come on slow poke!” That got Tobin running finally. She was unable to keep up with the faster girl and she was too busy laughing at Christen who was doing a victory dance at the car.

When Tobin finally made it, she just shoved Christen a little bit and opened the door for her. “You cheated which means you don’t deserve to do a victory dance. Cheaters don’t earn that right.” The other girl just laughed at Tobin’s pout and linked their hands together.

“Oh be quiet. You wouldn’t have caught up to me anyway. I’m the human Lightning McQueen. Ka-Chow!” The girl yelled and Tobin ended up in a fit of giggles with her. Christen Press was an absolute dork. The car ride back wasn’t silent this time. Tobin had gifted Christen with the aux cord and was now listening to Christen “sing” along to one of her many playlists consisting of mainly mainstream pop. It was quality music though, and Tobin found herself singing along as well. 

It wasn’t long before Tobin was pulling into the Press’s driveway. She walked her to the front door never letting go of her hand. “Well, I had a great time tonight Tobes. I will definitely be making it to the diner tomorrow. I have a feeling if I don’t Miss Sally won’t be to happy.” Christen had quickly realized that the old woman was very serious about promises and breaking one would not be a good decision.

“I had fun too. I normally pick Mal up on the way, but I don’t think I can fit you in with the girls.” Tobin said with a small frown on her face. She wanted to spend as much time as possible with Christen this weekend. There was a little voice in the back of her mind telling her that Christen wouldn’t want to talk to her or acknowledge her during school because it would bump down her status. Sure she wasn’t bullied anymore, but she wasn’t miss popular either. 

“Don’t worry I’ll bring Mal with me. I still have to tell her about the date, and I know you have to tell Lindsey.” Tobin nodded. “I should probably head in before one of my parents opens the door and tries to embarrass me. I’ll see you tomorrow Tobes.” Before heading into the Press house Christen gave Tobin one last kiss. Tobin’s smile lasted the whole way home and until she was greeted by her two best friends in her room.

“Oh my God you guys kissed didn’t you!” was the first thing Kelley yelled when she saw her friend. “You totally made out with Christen Press! Holy shit this is crazy! No offense Tobes, but man that girl is like way out of your league. She’s out of all of our leagues and I’m like super crazy hot.” Tobin couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at Kelley’s words and laughed even harder when Alyssa punched their friend in the arm. 

The brunette sighed and sat in her bed. “I know she’s out of my league, but tonight was awesome. She’s so nice and her smile is so incredibly beautiful and oh man I’m totally dead.” This brought a smile to her friends faces. They had been right in their assumption that Christen would be good for Tobin. 

“You aren’t out of her league Tobes. Your funny, and loyal, and you look just as good as her. Christen would be lucky to date you. Don’t sell yourself short bud.” Alyssa pulled Tobin off the bed and in for a hug and Kelley joined them right after. This is why she was friends with them. Even though Kelley made fun of her and Alyssa sometimes had to give her a lecture she wouldn’t want anyone else as her best friends. “We’re all tired. Let’s hit the hay and Tobin can tell us about the date tomorrow.”

Just as the three of them finished getting into pajamas and started to settle down the door burst open to reveal a wide-eyed Lindsey. “You went on a date with Mal’s sister and didn’t tell me!” Tobin just fell back onto her bed and groaned knowing she wouldn’t be going to sleep anytime soon.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Every time I sat down to write inspiration refused to hit me in the face and I was left thinking for a long time and thinking makes things worse when I write. Anyway, I'm working on another fic now, but that might take a hot sec to come out. Hope you enjoy the read 🥣🦏

“You went on a date with Tobin!” Christen jumped backwards at the sound of her sister’s frazzled voice. “When did she ask you? Where did you go? Why did I find out from dad?!” This was going to be a long night now. She knew Mal wouldn’t let up until she had all the details and answers to her many questions. “My sister is dating a girl who is basically like my other sister. That’s awesome! Wait no, that sounds like incest. My sister is dating a girl who is basically my…uh…My Tobin! There that’s better.” The older Press laughed at her sister’s correction.

“We aren’t dating Mal. We went out on a date, but that doesn’t make anything official. I had a good time, but I don’t want to rush into anything crazy.” Her sister squinted at her. Clearly, the gears in her mind were turning as she tried to figure out whatever had her confused at the moment. Moments later, realization dawned on her. 

“Oh my God you kissed her! That’s why you were outside for like a year and dad said he was gonna flicker the porch lights if you took any longer.” Well, she wasn’t getting out of this one unscathed. “Tobin is like the best person ever. Why wouldn’t you want to date her? She’s super cool and nice and you guys should become a thing so then you can get married and Lindsey and I can be sisters-in-law and…” Mal was stopped by Christen’s hand over mouth. She did not want to hear about marriage or anything like that right now. All of this talk was starting to stress her out. She knew Mal was kind of joking but Christen had one goal: to get to Stanford, do well in academics, and launch her soccer career. She could not be held down by anything right now. 

Christen sighed and sat on her bed. “Look Mal, I’m really tired and I kind of have a headache right now. I promise I’ll explain stuff tomorrow. All you need to know is that It went well, I like her a lot, and I want to go out with her again. Will that hold you over until I actually tell you what happened?” Her sister smiled and nodded. Before leaving she gave Christen a hug and a good night thrown over her shoulder as she walked out the door. “Also, Mal.” Her sister turned “I asked her out.” Her sister’s eyes widened and so did her smile.

“Mom owes me 10 buck! I knew Tobin didn’t have it in her to ask you.” Before Christen could verbally acknowledge what her sister just said, Mal was skipping out of the room calling for Mrs. Press. Of course they would bet on that. Christen realized that if Mallory knew about the date, Lindsey probably knew as well. She chuckled thinking about what might be happening to the other girl right now. She had a feeling Tobin wouldn’t be able to just send Lindsey to bed.

\--------------------

Christen was correct with her thoughts. Tobin was currently being tackled onto her bed by her younger sister who was yelling at her while Kelley took a video and Alyssa prayed for Tobin’s safety and health I this moment. Lindsey had Tobin by her shoulders and glared down at her. There was no escaping this. In this moment Tobin wished one of her friends would just pry her sister off, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen.

Lindsey finally settled in a position that she thought would keep Tobin from escaping and then gave her sister her best ‘I don’t like you right now’ look. If Tobin was being honest, the look was a tad bit intimidating. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Tobes. I thought we were like close sisters you know. I had to find out from Mal who had to find out from her parents! Plus, you let Alyssa and Kelley pick out your outfit? No offense to them, but out of all of us I am clearly the style icon!”

“Dude, you and Tobin wear the same exact clothes on a daily basis. You live I sweats. How could you do a better job then us?” Kelley asked, a bit offended by the younger Heath’s claim. Lindsey just whipped around and glared at their freckled friend. “What? I state the tru…” A pillow hit Kelley in the face, and she shut up. The only other thig I reach for Lindsey to throw was a lamp…or Tobin and she wanted neither of those coming at her.

“At least I get dressed up on the weekends. Tobin could’ve borrowed my nice blouses or something like that.” The three other girls burst out laughing. “What?” It took a minute for them to finally stop. 

“Look sis, I love you, but I’m not wearing one of your blouses. Ever. If it was like a fancy restaurant, I would’ve thrown on something nice, but we only went to Miss Sally’s. I’m not getting dressed up for that diner. I’ve thrown up in the diner’s bathroom too many times to dress up to eat there.” She got nods of agreement from her friends. That diner had seen them at the worst after stumbling high at midnight and getting scolded by Miss Sally before she placed pancakes in front of them. Lindsey looked more shocked then when she had burst through the door.

“You took her to the diner! Oh my God you’re basically married! You introduced her to Miss Sally didn’t you. She gave her a hug and embarrassed you and you convinced Christen to get the pancakes. I can’t believe you’re basically in love with Mal’s sister. You never take a girl there Tobin. Don’t get me wrong Christen is really sweet and pretty, but what makes you like her so much?” Lindsey had rolled off Tobin and was now sitting next to her with a questioning look. “Come on Tobes, spill your emotional beans. We all know you’re a softy in their we’ve seen you cry during the Lion King every time.”

Tobin groaned and facepalmed. “First of all, everyone should cry during that movie every time and second of all, I’m not married, or I love with Press. I like her a lot and I want a relationship with her, but let’s not bring up marriage. Also, she was the one who asked me to go there. It was just a coincidence that she chose the diner. I had a good time and I want to ask her out for a second date but…” Tobin trailed off and looked down at her hands with a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong bud?” Kelley sat down on the other side of her and out a arm around her shoulder. She could see that her friend was upset about something. Tobin didn’t speak though. She just continued to play with her hands and look more upset. “Hey, come on Tobin tell us what’s wrong. You had a great time tonight. What’s killing the mood?” She nudged her friend, which finally got her attention. 

“I don’t think I’m good enough for her. I know we aren’t dating or anything, but I would wat to. Mal always talks about how Christen is a genius and she’s striving to get to Stanford. I’m a loser. I have two friends that are my age and the rest are all Lindsey’s friends.” Kelley opened her mouth to interrupt, but her friend kept going. “And I know that I haven’t been bullied since freshman year, but that’s because I beat the shit out of Megan Shay after she fucking outed you. I’m going nowhere. I can’t do school cause I’m an idiot and my dreams create something meaningful are worthless. I’m worthle…” 

“Shut up!” Kelley yelled. She stood and grabbed Tobin by her shoulders looking like she was going to kill her, but instead she pulled her into a hug. “Please shut up Tobes. You are not stupid or worthless and your dreams aren’t nothing.” Her friend pulled back but kept a hold on her shoulders. “You’re gonnna make it some day and I’m gonna be right by your side and so is Alyssa and the kids. Anyone who thinks they’re better then you because they have better grades and are going to a fance college can fuck off. I’m sure Christen would never look down on you for not going to college and if things get serious, you’ll figure it out. Ok?” All Tobin did was nod and lay back on her bed. 

The room was full of silence for 5 minutes. Tobin had fallen asleep and Kelley told Lindsey to go to bed and they would deal with her. Alyssa picked their friend up and put her under the covers before both of them joined her. They were going to sleep on the air mattress, but they had silently agreed that Tobin needed them with her right now. They hoped that when their friend woke up tomorrow, she would feel better. 

\--------------------

Christen woke up early the next morning and padded downstairs to grab a cup of coffee. Her parents had left early that morning to visit family in New Hampshire. Mal and Christen were supposed to go but decided not to because her parents were going to be staying until Tuesday. At the moment Christen was dealing with a dilemma. After her conversation with Mal she had struggled to fall asleep. Tobin was amazing. She really liked her, but her plans for her future were set in stone. She was going to Stanford, which was across the country, and she was going to push herself to her limit to make it on to that damn national team. She couldn’t see Tobin in her future.

Once she got out of the shower and dressed for brunch, she laid back on her bad to contemplate the best way to go about everything. She wanted Tobin to ask her to be her girlfriend or the other way around, but she couldn’t do that to the girl. In the end Christen would graduate and leave this town. The stress began to get to her and within 10 minutes of thinking it over she fell asleep. 

2 Hours Later

Christen shot up from bed startled. She hadn’t expected to fall asleep, but she was just so exhausted she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. The stress didn’t help much either. She sighed and rolled over to grab her phone and text Tobin that she was on her way. However, when she turned the phone over, she realized she had slept right through brunch

“No no no. Fuck, Christen! You idiot!” She tore out of bed and down the stairs unsure of where she was going really. “I can’t believe I did this. It’s fine, she’ll understand that I was tired. Right? Dammit Christen you made a promise.” As she ran around looking for her shoes, she froze at the sound of a throat clearing. She turned to the stairs to see her sister standing on the bottom step looking disappointed.

“Kelley called. Apparently, you were supposed to be at brunch today. You really messed this one up Chris. Tobin won’t leave her room, not even for Lindsey. They sat there in that diner an hour after they finished. Tobin just kept saying she’ll be here and that you guys had a great time last night and there’s no way you wouldn’t show up.” Christen’s heart shattered at that. Tobin had waited for her to get her stupid ass in gear and she wasn’t even awake. “Tobin doesn’t trust people. When I found out you guys were getting close, I was shocked. She just let you walk right in and then you basically gave her a punch to the face.” All Christen could do was sit back onto the couch and hold her head in her hands. “What are you doing Chris? Get up and get your butt in your car. You’re gonna go over there and you’re gonna get Tobin out of her room. Is she ever going to trust you again? Probably not, but maybe you apologizing to her and telling her that she’s not worthless will get her out.” With that Mal walked back up the stairs and to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Christen immediately stood. She shoved her feet into the closest pair of sneakers and sprinted out the door and to her car. She knew she had fucked up and needed to fix this as fast as possible. She couldn’t let Tobin think that she thought those things about her. She should’ve just gotten her head out of her ass and her ass in her car this morning. 

The drive was quicker then usual because Christen sped all the way there. It took her longer than the last time she came to apologize to work up the courage to even walk to the door. All it took was one knock for her to be face to face with a pissed off Kelley O’Hara. She knew she was in trouble. Perhaps what was even scarier was the disappointing eyes of Alyssa. 

“Press, what are you doing here? You couldn’t show your face at brunch, but you have the fucking balls to knock on this door and act like you’re wanted here?” Before Kelley could continue, Alyssa put her hand on the girl and brought her over. They whispered back and forth for a solid minute before Kelley turned back to Christen. “You have 5 minutes. If you can’t get Tobin out of the room in that amount of time you’re out and when I say out, I mean out of her life for good. You don’t get a second chance with Tobin. It just doesn’t happen. She might think you’re some amazing gem, but I think you’re just playing a game” and with that Kelley walked into the house and let her in.

Christen took a deep breath before going up the stairs. As she headed to Tobin’s room, she had to look Lindsey in the eyes and see the same anger that had been in Kelley’s. The blonde just shook her head and made her way downstairs clearly no wanting to be in the older girl’s presence at the moment. After a moment she moved forward and knocked on the door. She got no response. 

“Tobin? It’s Christen…well, you probably know that. Look, Tobes this morning I was just really stressed out and I fell asleep after getting ready for brunch. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I thought just resting my eyes wouldn’t make me fall asleep. I’m so sorry Tobin. I’m an idiot. You aren’t worthless and I really like you. Please just give me another chance. I never wanted to hurt you.” Christen was met with complete silence. All she could do now was sit and wait. 5 minutes went by fast and once it passed Kelley and Alyssa made their way up the stairs. 

“Sorry Chris, but I think you need to go. I thought maybe you talking to her would bring her out, but it looks like only time will fix this.” Christen just nodded and got up keeping her head down. She didn’t want to look them in the eyes. “She’s just really upset. I’m sure she’ll want to talk to you eventually.” Christen heard Kelley snort at that. She also saw Alyssa elbow the shorter girl to keep her quite.

Before making it to the stairs, Christen’s brain actually started to work. “Did you guys even try opening the door?” She looked at them and they just stared back at her. “Should I take those looks as a no?”

“When she’s upset, she needs time alone. Normally, we would just leave her be, but this time was really bad, so we wanted to actually do something about it and try to get her out, but we didn’t want to force her to deal with people. We never barge in. We always wait for her to open the door.” At that Christen shook her head and moved passed the two of them.

“I guarantee you she’s not even in there.” Christen pushed the door open only to find Tobin’s room empty, but the window was open. “Do you ever hear noise up here when she’s upset.” The two shake their heads. “That’s because she’s never in here. She hops out that window and she goes to the place that makes her feel better. Go to the diner, she’s there.” 

Kelley frowned at the brunette. “We were just at the diner. Why would she go back? That makes no sense and it’s time for you to leave Press.”

“Would you have left Tobin at the diner alone if she asked you to today?” She’s met with silence “Exactly. Tobin wanted to be alone, so she got you two here and then walked back there. Yesterday, she said it was where she went when she was upset. I’m telling you right now that if you go, she’ll be there.”

“No, we aren’t going. You are.” Before Kelley can protest against Alyssa’s words, the keeper speaks again. “Get over there and sit with her. Order pancakes, tell her your sorry, and make sure she doesn’t feel like shit Christen.” Alyssa hadn’t even finished her statement yet and the other girl was moving to the stairs and out the door. She was going to make sure Tobin knew she didn’t mean to leave her alone today. She would try her hardest to get back her trust no matter what she had to do.


	14. Chapter 14

Christen didn’t hesitate this time. She burst into the diner and immediately took in the whole room hoping to catch a glance of the brunette. At first, she thought that maybe she had been wrong about her assumption, but then she saw the booth they had sat at yesterday and a pair of familiar blue sneakers visible. Before she could make her way over to the table, she felt a light tapping on her shoulder and she turned around to find Miss Sally giving her a small smile. 

“I knew you’d show up eventually. I haven’t spoken to her yet, but I know she’s been crying even if she’s trying to hide it. Go over there and talk to her. Make sure she knows that you didn’t mean to not be here. I know you wouldn’t purposefully do that. She’ll take a while to actually listen to you but give her time and she will. I’ll have a stack of pancakes out for you soon.” Christen didn’t have time to respond because Miss Sally was already making herself busy taking the orders of another table. 

The green-eyed teen slowly made her way to the booth and sat down quietly on the other side. Tobin didn’t look up or speak and Christen decided to wait before speaking. She could feel tension in the air, and she knew Tobin knew it was her. She could see a change in the way she sat now, curling further into herself. Miss Sally came around a few minutes later with pancakes for Christen, but when she saw they still sat in silence she decided it was probably best that she didn’t go over there right now. Christen needed to figure out her words and how she would approach the situation. 

Time ticked by and Christen finally felt the need to speak. “Tobin.” There was no movement on the other side of the table, no indication that she had been heard, bur she continued. “I need you to know that I didn’t mean to not show up. I was so stressed out and stuck in a loop of thinking that I fell asleep.” Tobin still didn’t react to her words. Christen sighed and leaned back in the booth. “I want this Tobin. I know we’ve only known each other, really known each other, for a few weeks, but I feel like I’ve known you forever. You’re so sweet and you make me feel good about myself. Everyone says you have a tough outer shell and you never come out of it, but Tobes, I don’t think that’s true. I think you’re one of the most genuine and real people I’ve met. You care so much about everyone and how they feel over how you feel. I made a mistake and I thought too much and I fucked up. I want you to know that you aren’t worthless or stupid, you’re real. I don’t care what I have to do to earn your trust again, I’ll do it. Even if you don’t ever want to be more then friends now, I’ll take it.” Christen didn’t have anything else to say. The ball was in Tobin’s court now and she would sit in this booth for hours if it meant getting some sort of answer, even just a look, from the girl that sat across from her. 

It did end up being hours. Three to be exact. Christen ate her pancakes and sat in the silence. She only picked up her phone to text Alyssa and tell her she found Tobin and she was going to try and figure everything out. Christen had been staring out the window when Tobin moved. She hadn’t noticed until the girl was moving around the table and sitting on the edge of Christen’s side. Tobin still didn’t look at Christen or speak, but this was some sort of progress, right? 

Another 30 minutes and Tobin wasn’t as tucked in on herself. She was looking up now and she scooted a bit further into the booth. Christen didn’t move. She feared that if she did the other girl would get scared and they would lose this progress. Instead, she chose to just watch out of the corer of her eye. She prayed that Miss Sally would understand not to come over here and interrupt this moment. Anything could bring the other girl running again, even the calming presence of the old lady. Tobin had almost bolted when Christen’s pancakes were brought over. 

One hour after and Tobin took a deep breath and faced Christen. One look at Tobin’s face and Christen knew she was going to break. She opened her arm and in seconds Tobin was burying herself into Christen. She started to cry the minute she made contact with Christen’s chest and the other girl just held her not caring that the crying girl was soaking her sweatshirt with tears. She knew this didn’t mean that Tobin was fully trusting her again, but it meant something right?

After a little bit of crying Tobin finally lifted her head. Her tear-filled honey colored eyes made Christen’s heart melt. Even when she was a crying wreck, she looked stunning. “You don’t have to apologize Chris. I just overreacted because I thought that maybe I had done something that made you not want to come.” Tobin blew her nose and leaned back before continuing. “I waited for so long because I knew you wouldn’t not show up on purpose. I just got so frazzled because Kelley and Lindsey basically dragged me out of here and just started yelling shit about you and I would’ve defended you, but I don’t like when people fight like that, so I zoned out.” 

“You didn’t think I ditched you?” Tobin shook her head. “Tobin, did they even let you explain why you were so upset?” Another shake of the head no. “Well, come on. We’re going to go to the pastry shop in the town center and have an actual date. They can sit and wait to hear what’s going on because clearly they need to learn how to shut up and listen.” Christen held out her hand and Tobin immediately grabbed it and allowed herself to be pulled up. 

Tobin was the one to break the silent car ride. “I only left home because they were all arguing. Lindsey and Kelley just kept getting angry and it started giving me a bad headache. I was just waiting for you to text or call telling me you were sorry for not making it and we would plan something else. I didn’t wanna sit there anymore and listen to them cause they were making me upset with what they were saying.” Those words put a frown on Christen’s face.

“You don’t have to worry about not standing up for me Tobin. I understand that you struggled to find your voice because they were just yelling over you. It’s okay.” She took Tobin’s hand that sat on the center console in hers to reassure her.

“That’s not what pushed me over. They were saying that I was probably going to be upset and quiet for a few days because I’m ‘fragile’. They think that I just crack from any little push, but I’ve gotten stronger then I was in middle school or even the beginning of high school. I’m sick of being treated like I could break at every fucking moment.” The car filled with silence again. By the time they pulled up to the little pastry shop Christen was fuming. All this blame was dumped on her and the reason for Tobin’s anger was the people doing the finger pointing. 

“Tobes, I really want to just spend the day with you walking the park and all that, but I think we should grab our food and head back. You need to speak your mind to them. They need to know how you feel.” All she got in return was a sigh and a slight head nod. The two teens got out and bought a box of cannolis before heading back to Tobin’s house.

When they got inside, they noticed that the number of people there had multiplied as Mal and the other kids had joined the three. Before anyone could make a move towards them, Tobin stepped forward. “You all need to sit and listen up for a minute.” Christen could tell she was nervous by the shakiness of her voice, so she put her hand on the small of Tobin’s back in reassurance that she was there. “I am not a child. I appreciate you all caring about my emotions, but I’m not the same fragile girl I was before. I never said I was upset about Chris not being there. She works hard and does a lot and her being stressed and passing out in bed due to that is not a reason to flip your shit on her. I was upset because you three didn’t let me talk. Instead, you all just kept yelling about how she was horrible to me and how I was going to go into another depression. You don’t say that shit. Now all of you, except for Alyssa because she was so busy trying to get you two to shut the fuck up to have a chance at noticing my irritation, are going to apologize to Christen. That includes you too Mal and I have a feeling the rest of you have said shit while she was gone so you get to apologize too.” 

The room was completely silent, and everyone sat there with shocked faces. Even Christen was shocked. She didn’t expect Tobin to stand up for her like that. It made her like the older girl even more. It built a sort of trust in her that wasn’t there before. 

One by one the kids came up to her and said sorry. Alyssa still came over and pulled Christen into a hug and told her she knew she would make sure Tobin was okay. Christen had a feeling Alyssa knew the best thing to do was send Christen to talk to her friend over herself and the others. Finally, Kelley made her way over with a frown on her face.

“I’m sorry Christen. Sometimes I get overprotective because I know Tobin would fight 1000 people to make sure I was safe. I was just trying to do the same for her, but I screwed up. I hope that we can push this aside eventually, and actually get a chance to talk as friends.” Kelley stuck out her hand for a shake but Christen rolled her eyes and pulled the freckled girl into a hug. 

While everyone was talking again and the tension melted away, Christen felt a nudge against her. Mal stood there looking upset and like she was about to cry. “I’m so sorry Chris. I know it will sound like I’m repeating what Kelley said, but Tobin would actually fight a whole army for all of us and it blinded me from knowing that you would never do that. I should have put two and two together and woken you up so this could all be avoided.” Her little sister began to cry so Christen put an arm around her and held her. “She just knows when something is wrong and is always right about the problem. She fixes everything and we can’t even figure out what’s actually upsetting her and, and.” 

“Mal, it’s okay. Stop crying and just breath. I’ve already been able to tell that Tobin is a fixer and she knows when something is wrong. Some people can just fix like that. It’s something special she can do. You might not be able to, but what you can do is cheer people up in your own way. You’re so good Mal and you make Tobin laugh and smile. Don’t be upset about this. I’ll always forgive you.” Mal’s tears began to clear and she hugged Christen tighter. Christen pressed a kiss to her little sister’s forehead then sent her to go have fun with her friends. 

Once her conversation with Mal ended Christen found Tobin in the kitchen. “Tomorrow afternoon we’re going out on a date. I’m not telling you where we’re going, but it’s going to be fun. I promise.” Tobin smiled and pulled Christen into her. The two stood there for a moment just breathing each other in. “I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself.”

“I was only really able to do it because you were there. You made me feel like I could actually say what I felt for once.” Tobin was giving her that big stupid grin and Christen fell a little bit harder for her. She felt the urge to kiss her, so she did. The kisses were soft and slow. Tobin’s lips felt like fire against hers and Christen knew she didn’t want to be kissing anyone else’s for a very long time. They finally broke apart when a throat was cleared form the kitchen door.

“Come on guys we’re all watching a movie together.” Lindsey said while grabbing the two of them. They laughed as they were dragged down to the basement. The two were quick to claim a corner of the couch and cuddle up together. Christen was basically sitting in Tobin’s lap and she felt like it was where she wanted to be forever. Tobin was warm and comfy, and they fit together perfectly. Soon The Little Mermaid was on the screen, but the only thing Christen could really focus on were the strong arms wrapped around her torso as she drifted to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to push out one more quick update before I put out my newest work. It's more of a filler. Hope y'all enjoy it. 🥣🦏

Christen woke up feeling refreshed. It took her a minute to realize that she wasn’t on the couch anymore and there was no movie running in the background. However, there were still arms wrapped tightly around her waist. She sighed contently and turned so that she was facing the still sleeping Tobin. She didn’t want the older girl to wake up and think she was creepy, but she couldn’t help but stare. Tobin’s face was so peaceful while she slept. Christen brought her hand up and ran her thumb over the older girl’s cheek causing light brown eyes to flutter open.

The older girl had a dopey smile on her face, and she let out a crackly “Hi” before burying her face into Christen’s neck and breathing in. Christen’s smile grew and she leaned down to kiss the top of Tobin’s head. Maybe things were moving a little fast, but it just felt so good to lay here with Tobin in her arms. For once all her stress melted away. She wanted to wake up every Sunday, no every day, to this. 

Tobin mumbled something a few minutes later, but it was muffled by Christen’s hair. “Tobes, I need you to speak up a little more I can’t hear you.” When Tobin tried again it was just a louder mumble. The younger teen couldn’t help but laugh at the senior’s goofiness. “Still can’t hear you Tobin. You’re gonna have to move back a bit.” This earned Christen what she thought was maybe a no, but she still couldn’t really tell. She rolled her eyes and pulled away from the other girl. The minute she saw her face she broke out in a fit of giggles at the pout Tobin was wearing. “God you’re adorable.” She took Tobin’s face in her hands and kissed her. Before it could get to heated, she pulled back earning another pout. “You had a question Tobin?”

“Do you wanna go to the park with me? I’m starting to feel a little restless. I totally understand if you don’t want to, I mean you’ve seen me all weekend so it’s totally cool if you want to leave or whatever.” Before she could continue Christen cut her off with another short, but sweet kiss. 

“You’re such a dork. Come on I’d love to go to the park with you.” Tobin broke out into a smile and hopped out of bed running to grab her clothes and head to the bathroom to change giving Christen the privacy of the room. When Christen finished getting ready she headed downstairs to see Tobin already bouncing around the kitchen eating an apple. “Is anyone else coming?”

“Nah. Alyssa and Kelley are going to go play laser tag with the kids. Normally I would go, but last time Sam accidentally smacked me in the face with her gun and I think I still have a fear of that. I had a bruise for a week.” Christen had a feeling that hanging out with this crew might end with her having some of those bruises as well. 

The two of them decided it was best to just walk to the park. They held hands the whole way and talked about what their week looked like. The walk only took around 15 minutes and Tobin dragged her over to a bench and plopped down pulling Christen with her. It was a beautiful day out. Christen knew the cold weather would be coming soon and she wanted to get as much time outside as possible before she had to layer up. She also needed to get some touches in before tryouts next week. She was already on varsity, but she still wanted to look good in front of coach. 

The pair sat on that bench and talked for hours about anything and everything. Christen wanted to learn as much about Tobin as possible. She wanted to know every little thing about her. They finally realized that time had flew by when it started to get dark out and the park lights flickered on. It had seemed like no time had gone by at all. Talking to Tobin was easy and sitting with her felt right.

“Well, we should probably head back. You probably need to get home.” At that statement Christen frowned. She didn’t want to leave yet, but she did still have work to do. “If you want, I can text Kelley or Lyss and they can drive your car here, so you don’t have to walk back to the house with me.”  
Christen quickly shook her head. “No, I want to walk back with you.” This earned her that big stupid grin. The fact that she made Tobin smile like that made her feel what she could only describe as butterflies in her stomach. 

Unlike the walk there the one back was a quiet one. Tobin swung their hands back and forth and the two never stopped smiling. They were beginning to find a sort of comfort in each other that they couldn’t seem to find before. Christen could tell that Tobin was less nervous around her now. The only time a frown found its way on to Christen’s face that day was when they made it back to Tobin’s house and stood at her driver side door. 

“Today was awesome.” Tobin said as she held Christen close to her. Neither wanted to say goodbye. The front door opened, and Tobin moved to step back, but Christen kept her close. Mal came down the front steps and smiled at the pair before slowly making her way into the car. Christen had a feeling that Mal would fall asleep before they even made it home. Clearly, laser tag was as intense as Tobin made it sound. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Christen leaned in for one more kiss knowing that if she stayed any longer, she wouldn’t be leaving. She would gladly just stay here and fall asleep in Tobin’s bed again, but that unfortunately wasn’t an option. They said goodnight to each other and Christen finally left. Pulling out of the driveway she felt a lot emptier then she thought she would. She never thought she would struggle to sleep but being in her bed alone made her toss and turn. What finally got her to sleep was the thought that the faster she fell asleep the quicker she would be up and able to see what was quickly becoming her favorite smile.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I'm gonna put a warning here. There is some stuff in this chapter that could trigger some people because this looks into some of Tobin's mental problems and what she went through during some of her roughest times. There will be one of these: ******* when it starts and another row when it ends. I don't recommend skipping the whole chapter since the ending is kind of important. Anyway it's 2am so imma smack some hay or write another chapter I dunno. 🥣🦏

Tobin didn’t go to school Monday…or Tuesday…or Wednesday. All she did was drive Lindsey and her friends then drive around until she got tired. She also got high on the roof. Thankfully, Lindsey didn’t find her because her sister worried that she would fall off one day. She spent most of the three days up in her room painting and pacing. She was stressed out and anxious and found herself almost breaking her easel when her brain could figure out what to paint. Her phone remained off in a drawer and she was lost to the world. 

******************************

Everyone in Tobin’s life knew during these times knew it was best to leave her be. At first her parents would force her out of her room to talk, but they soon realized that this just made the girl angrier. Instead, every other Friday Tobin would go to Dr. Andonovski to talk about what was bothering her. She had been going to him for therapy since 7th grade and had made major strides forward, but also continued to have setbacks. Before Dr. Andonovski, Tobin would lash out on her parents or her sister and put holes in her wall leaving her with bloody knuckles. The summer of 2016 Tobin had her biggest setback when she downed her pills and fell asleep hoping she didn’t wake up. Kelley had found her, and the doctors said had they gotten to her any later she wouldn’t be alive.

After seeing the faces of her family and friends Tobin swore to herself that she would never do that again. She didn’t want to see the pain written on her parents faces again or cause Kelley to have a breakdown in the middle of the hospital cafeteria because she couldn’t get the vision of Tobin laying their on the brink of death out of her head. Lindsey had been at a sleepover at the Press’s that night. She was only around 10 and the Heath’s decided it was best to not tell Lindsey what had occurred. She didn’t even understand what was going on with her sister and often times when Tobin freaked, she just shrugged it off as if it was normal. She obviously had a better understanding now, but she would never know how bad it had been. Tobin refused to tell her because she knew Lindsey would be angry at herself for not knowing and helping. 

At the moment Tobin was splattering paint randomly on a canvas when there was a knock on the door. She stopped and stared at the mess she made before picking it up and putting it in the pile of paintings she would throw out later. With a sigh she shuffled to the door and opened it to be met with her sister. Lindsey held out a bottle of water and Tobin’s medicine. When Tobin was in these states her parents or Lindsey would keep a hold of her pills. Her dad had taken Monday and Tuesday off to keep an eye on her. When he knew she was settling back down he went back to work Wednesday. 

“Christen has been asking about you. She’s worried because you’re not answering her texts or calls. I didn’t tell her what was going on because that’s not my story to tell, but you need to talk to her Tobes.” The brunette just handed the water back and began to close her door. Before it could shut Lindsey stopped it. “Tobin, you can’t shut her out now.” Tobin was getting angry. All the calmness that she had managed to gather the past three days was gone now.

“Lindsey, you need to leave now.” Her sister stood her ground with a look of determination on her face. Tobin turned and walked over to the drawer that held her phone. She held the phone up to make sure Lindsey could see it before she spiked it into the ground, shattering it. “Now fuck off.” Lindsey didn’t let the shock show on her face. Her parents always told her to not back down when Tobin spun out. Instead she stepped into the room and picked up the phone turning it on.

This time Lindsey held it up to show her sister that it still worked. “You are going to call Christen now and tell her you are ok. You don’t have to explain why you weren’t in school, but you have to at least let her know you aren’t dead.” Tobin chuckled and shook her head. “What now Tobin? I don’t see anything funny about this situation.”

“I would be lying to her. I’m not okay Lindsey. I’ve never been okay. My head is fucked, I’m stupid, and Christen will eventually see that she’s too good for me. Now get out of my room and leave me alone. I don’t want to see your face or hear your voice. You’re just a fucking annoyance.” Tobin’s voice was scarily calm, and Lindsey decided if she didn’t leave now, she would end up crying and she didn’t want to do that in front of her sister. 

******************************

Two hours later Tobin came out of her room, went down the stairs, and pulled Lindsey into a hug. She didn’t say anything or apologize, but Lindsey didn’t expect her to. This was enough for her to know that Tobin was sorry and out of her angry state. “I texted Christen. I told her we needed to meet up so I could explain some stuff. She said we could meet at the park.” Lindsey hugged her sister again, proud that she was able to face her fears. “I’m gonna go now. We’re meeting in an hour, but I want to get there and compose myself.” 

When she got to the park she was shocked to find Christen already sitting on a bench. She should have known Christen would want to get there early as well. She took a deep breath before approaching the bench. Christen didn’t look at her until Tobin was sitting down next to her. “Hi.”

Christen didn’t speak. Instead she pulled Tobin into a hug. The brunette was confused. She thought Christen would be mad at her. She didn’t expect a hug from the other girl. “God Tobin I was so worried about you.” Christen said when she pulled away. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Lindsey wouldn’t explain what was wrong, but she kept telling me you were going to be okay, but I started to doubt her by today.” Christen was gripping her hand as if she would just disappear if she let go. 

“I’m…alright. I just was having a tough few days. It happens every once and a while.” Christen waited for her to continue, but Tobin remained silent. She didn’t really feel comfortable spilling her guts to Christen yet. Maybe after a few months she would but not today. “I’m doing better now. The storm has passed so you don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Tobin gave Christen her best attempt of a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes really. 

Christen understood that if she pushed Tobin to talk to her right now, she might end up causing more stress for the older girl, so instead she just held her a little tighter. “Since you’re doing better will you be in school tomorrow? I miss seeing you in the hallways. It’s weird going the whole day without you.” Christen tilted Tobin’s chin so the brunette was actually looking at her. “You’ve already missed so much Tobes. It’s senior year aren’t you worried about falling behind?” This made Tobin laugh a little which caused Christen to frown.

“Chris, I’ve been behind since I was born. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but school isn’t my thing. I don’t learn anything from the classes we’re forced to take. None of it is going to help me in life cause I can’t understand it. Plus, all the teachers stopped caring about me once they realized I didn’t care about their class.” This left Christen in a bit of shock. Christen had always loved school. She enjoyed learning new things and doing projects. She couldn’t comprehend how someone could dislike that. 

“What about college? I mean I guess if you do well on the SATs or…” She couldn’t finish her sentence because she was drowned out by Tobin cracking up. “What? I don’t get what’s so funny about that. This is your future Tobin. Don’t you at least care about that?” It took Tobin some time to compose herself before she could actually form a response.

“I do care about my future, but college isn’t going to be what gets me to where I want to be. I don’t think you understand what I’m saying Chris. I can’t understand most stuff. Everything is all muddled because of my dyslexia and all the sessions I’ve gone to help with that that are useless because my ADHD keeps me from focusing during those. Plus, my ADHD meds sometimes mess with my anxiety ones and it causes a whole other mess. Me missing school doesn’t change anything. My parents have accepted that I’m not going to college as long as I find a job and start paying rent until I can finally do what I want to do which is something with are or design or some shit. Everyone has their own path and mine isn’t college.” Tobin’s voice remained steady and confident as if this wasn’t the first time, she had given this speech. In fact, it was a common subject over the holidays as her relatives loved to ask about future plans any chance they got. 

Christen felt this urge in her to argue. She wanted to tell Tobin that college was important, and she wouldn’t go anywhere without it, but she managed to stop herself. She still didn’t understand, but she knew she would just upset Tobin if she said something like that. “Are you at least going to apply to some schools.” That earned a shake of the head and this made Christen even more shocked. “You don’t even want to test the waters and see? There are so many great art schools out there.”

“No thanks. I don’t like schedules or classes. I never will like them Chris.” She clearly had more to say, but her phone began to buzz. “Shit. I gotta go Chris my mom and dad expected me at the dinner table tonight since I’ve been eating in my room the passed few days. I’ll see you later.” She pulled Christen in for a quick kiss before darting off. She froze for suddenly and turned back. “It’s getting dark out, I’ll walk you home first.” Before Christen could argue Tobin was already helping her off the bench and leading her down the street towards her house.

“You know you’re going to have to walk home in the dark now right?” Tobin just shrugged and smiled at her. “God, I love you.” She mumbled under her breath. Her eyes widened after she realize what she had said. She prayed that Tobin didn’t hear her. Judging by the lack of reaction she didn’t. She started to feel sick because she had only been in some sort of relationship with Tobin for 6 days and it wasn’t even official. How could she be feeling this type of way already? By the time they had gotten to her door she was beginning to stress sweat a little bit. 

“Well, this is your stop” Tobin grinned before leaning and leaned in for another kiss but Christen flinched away a bit. “Is something wrong? Did I do something?” Christen didn’t know what to say back. She was still trying to comprehend her feelings. “Chris, please tell me what I did.” She could hear the anxiety growing in Tobin’s voice and she knew she needed to just spill it.

“I…I think I might…kind of…will you be my girlfriend Tobin Heath?” A few seconds ticked by and she thought that Tobin would say know, but then that goofy grin graced her face and she was being pulled in again. This kiss wasn’t like any of the others. This was rough and heated, and the older girl was gripping her hips. She felt her back hit the front door and Tobin pressed against her front. She let the kiss last a little longer be for pulling away. 

“I would love to be your girlfriend Christen Press. I’m gonna go now before I get in more trouble. I promise I’ll text you when I get back and I’ll maybe see you in school tomorrow. I promise I’ll make an effort to go, but it’s not definite.” Christen just nodded and let Tobin go. She watched her until she was out of sight before finally turning and going into the house.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As someone with Major ADHD and some reading problems that put me through years of tutoring Tobin's struggle is no where near over. I'm hoping to show some growth every few chapters, but also decline. It's an up and down process and she'll have some bad days. Christen's got her back though don't worry y'all. Next chapter a new ship might begin to sail because I'll be switching over to someone else's POV. Hope y'all enjoy 🥣🦏

Tobin went to school for the rest of the week. The only trouble she had was on Friday. Her Chem teacher announced that they would be having a test Monday and she immediately got nervous. She had made a promise to Christen that she would try to do a full week next week, but she couldn’t take this test. Maybe she could just skip the class. Her grade was already a mess. Missing one test wouldn’t change the fact that she was going to fail the class. 

During lunch Christen sat at Tobin’s table. Everything was going fine until Kelley opened her big mouth. “So Tobes, how do you plan on avoiding the Chem test this time? You weren’t here for most of the material so taking it would probably give you the same result as missing it. No offense my dude.” 

“You’re not wrong. I was just going to skip the class and hope that Mrs. Wambach doesn’t notice me in the halls after. I swear she’s the one teacher who still comes after me for missing her class or school in general. I’ve had her for Bio, Physics, and just my luck she gets moved to Chem when I have to take that.” Abby Wambach had followed Tobin through her years of high school. The only year she hadn’t had her as a teacher was Sophomore. Even then she noticed the woman keeping a close eye on her and questioning her when she wondered the hallway. Her wife, Mrs. Doyle was actually Tobin’s counselor. The duo were probably the only adults at the school who still had some sort of faith in her.

Christen frowned at her girlfriend’s words. “I’m in honors chem. I can just tutor you this weekend.” The brunette’s statement was met with laughter from the 3 seniors. Even Alyssa wore and amused smile. “What? I don’t see what’s funny.” 

“That was a good joke Chris. You almost had me for a second. Maybe instead of soccer you could go into stand-up.” Tobin’s smile faded when she noticed that Christen wasn’t laughing. “Wait were you being serious?” 

“Yes, I was. You shouldn’t skip the test Tobin. Wambach’s test account for a big part of your grade. If you do well on enough of them, you could pass. I’m sure I could help with some of your other classes too. There’s time to boost your grades and get some applications out for schools.” This time it was Tobin who was frowning. 

“Wait Tobes, I didn’t know you were still trying to apply to schools. I thought the plan was to skip on the college train and get straight to work.” Alyssa said confused. Kelley was also a bit lost. Both girls looked at their friend with raised eyebrows waiting for an explanation.

“I’m not going to college. Chris is just saying stuff. The plan still stands, and it won’t be changing anytime soon. Christen, I appreciate the offer, but I’ll take the grades that I get and run with them. If I had a choice I wouldn’t even be here anymore.” Alyssa and Kelley went back to eating their food and chatting about a new movie they were dying to see while Christen and Tobin sat in an awkward silence. 

The two eventually joined the conversation but there was tension in the air until the bell finally rang. Tobin when to follow after Alyssa and Kelley but Christen grabbed her arm. “We both have free right now. If you don’t want to waste your weekend studying, you’re at least doing it with me now in the library.” Tobin groaned as Christen dragged her out the door and down the hall. Her friends just looked on with amused smiles. Tobin would yell at them later for not saving her.

15 minutes into the free Christen was getting a bit annoyed. It seemed like Tobin was making no effort to actually learn. Every time the door opened, or a chair creaked, she would lose focus. Not only that but the senior had managed to accidentally knock over Christen’s water bottle 6 times. If she wasn’t kicking the bottle it was Christen’s shin. Tobin was constantly shifting and losing track of her place. Christen would then have to get her focused again which made Christen lose hers as well. 

“Alright, why don’t we move on to English Tobin. You have a test on Tuesday, right?” The girl nodded. “And it’s on Shakespeare?” Another nod. “Cool. Shakespeare isn’t as bad as some people make it. You get your Hamlet copy out and I’ll grab the on that’s here.” When Christen returned Tobin had her book out and open. “Do you want to start or should I?” Tobin didn’t say anything so Christen decided she would. “We’ll go through a few pages and then stop and piece together what’s going on.” Christen read through the first page easily. Every few lines she looked up to make sure Tobin was still following along. “Alright, you can take the next page.

Tobin took a deep breath before looking at the page. “And…l-lieg-lieg” Tobin was frozen. The frown on Tobin’s face grew as time went by. Christen opened her mouth to speak but wasn’t interrupted by the noise of Tobin slamming the book shut. “This is stupid. Can we do something else? I have History homework too.” 

“Tobin you have an actual test in this though. Do you have a History test coming up?” Tobin shook her head keeping her eyes on the table. “It would be smarter for us to work on what you need to study. This way you’re more prepared for the test.” 

“I don’t want to do English. It’s stupid and I don’t like it.” Tobin’s voice was angry, and she was starting to grip the table so hard that her knuckles were turning white. Christen reached over and put her hand on Tobin’s.

“I know it seems stupid to learn, but I know you can do well on this test Tobin. Let’s just read a few more pages and go over the material. If you still feel like it’s stupid, we can move on. Now, it’s your turn to read.” Christen opened the book that was in front of Tobin and sat back. She would be patient if she had to.

Tobin rubbed her face frustratingly with her hands before looking at the page again. “And lieg-liege…liegemen to the Dane. Give you good night. O f-far…farewell, honest soldier. Who…Who…” Tobin stopped and stared again. After a moment she began again. “Who hath relieved you?” Tobin continued to read and everything seemed to be going fine besides a few more pauses until “If again this abb...abb…abbarition?” Tobin looked up at Christen and saw the slight frown on her face and immediately knew she had gotten the word wrong. Christen jumped a bit when she heard the book slam shut. Tobin stood and shoved it in her bag. “I told you this was stupid.” 

“Wait Tobin you were doing fine. The word was apparition. You were so close this is no reason to get upset okay?” Tobin drowned out Christen’s words as she packed the rest of her books up. 

“I can’t read Christen. It’s embarrassing and I’d rather not sit here while you have to correct me after every fucking word. We could’ve just switched to history and ignored this, but no let’s poke at everything wrong with me.” Tobin tried to leave but Christen grabbed her.

“No, you don’t get to run from this Tobin. You don’t get to run from me. You have a disorder and that’s okay. It’ll take extra time to read and I might have to help you, but I don’t care. I’m not letting you leave because you’re insecure about this. You need to realize that lashing out and running isn’t going to fix anything. Please just sit down and try for me.” Christen loosened a grip to give Tobin a choice. She could walk out if she wanted or she could stay. After some thought Tobin squeezed her eyes shut before plopping back down into the chair. 

“Whatever. Alyssa and Kelley already left so there’s no where else for me to go.” Tobin grumbled while she unpacked her bag. Christen smiled at the excuse. She had a feeling Tobin was staying for more then that. This was progress so she would take it.

Nearing the end of free Tobin had not only finished the page she was stumbling on, but also 3 more. It had taken time and Christen had to fix quite a few mistakes, but what mattered was the more Tobin read the more confident her voice seemed to get. As the walked to the door Christen gave her a quick kiss to the cheek making Tobin grin. “I want you to know that I’m proud of you Tobin. I know that was probably hard for you to sit through.” The grin turned into a shy smile and the older girl blushed. 

“Well, with your help I felt much better. I know I said no, but do you think tomorrow we could maybe study at my house?” Christen beamed at Tobin making the older girl laugh. “Should I take that as a yes?” 

“Yup. I can be at your place at 12 if that works with you.” Tobin nodded. “Awesome. I’ll see you after school.” Christen glanced around the hall. It was still empty because the bell had yet to ring. She smirked and pressed Tobin against the lockers. Tobin’s eyes widened as Christen kissed her hard. It took a minute, but Tobin began to kiss her back. They moved in sink and Tobin let a moan slip when Christen bit down gently on Tobin’s bottom lip. Unfortunately, the bell rang after that. The taller girl pulled away with a grin. “Bye babe.” Christen turned and walked down the hall with a sway in her hips knowing Tobin was staring. The other girl was left standing there in slight shock. Once it finally wore off her cocky smile was back, and she basically floated to class.


	18. Chapter 18

Christen pulled into the Heath’s driveway right at 12. She got out and went to knock but noticed that the door was already ajar. She frowned and slowly walked into the house. “Tobin?” Instead of an answer she heard a loud yell and bang. Christen nearly peed herself. She whipped her phone out to call the police because to her this seemed really sketch, but before she could Lindsey Heath was barreling down the stairs with a nerf gun.

“Oh hey Christen!” Lindsey smiled. Tobin’s younger sister had apologized to her about 5 times after the incident. Christen had to sit her down and tell her that all was good to finally end the constant sad eyes the blonde would give her as she said sorry again. “We’re having a nerf battle. The screaming was Kelley and I ambushing Tobin and Em. The two managed to hop out the window though so we missed.” Christen’s eyes widened at the last sentence. “Do you wanna join?”

“Um no I think I’m all good. Could actually let Tobin know I’m here? We have a lot of work to do.” Lindsey nodded and ran outside to find her older sister. When she came back, she didn’t only have Tobin, but Emily and Tierna as well. 

“What do you mean Tobin can’t play anymore! That’s bullshit. You guys have way more players now and Tobin is our best runner. How are we supposed to get your flag now?!” Sonnett crossed her arms and frowned. “I think that since we lose Tobin, we should get Alyssa. Or Tobin sticks around for the rest of the game and Christen also joins our team.” Now all eyes were on Christen.

Tobin stepped up and put an arm around her. “Come on Chris it’ll be fun. You can just be in charge of protecting the flag with Lil T if you don’t want to run around in the woods. Tierna is the best flag protector so you won’t have to worry that much.” Christen wanted to say no, but it was no use while Tobin was smiling at her so adorably. 

She sighed and looked around at the girls. “Fine. Only one round though. We have a lot of work to do Tobes.” Tobin threw her arms around Christen and fist bumped the rest of their team. The rest of the girls were called to join the group and the game reset. Everyone ran in the opposite direction to hide their flags from the opposing team. 

Tierna led Christen down a path with the flag and stuck it into the ground. The lanky freckled teen pointed at the tree next to them. “I’ll be up there, and you can go over to those bushes. The flag isn’t always noticeable if you look quickly. If we’re standing around though, we’ll be a dead giveaway that’s why we have to hide.” Christen tried to take in all the words but she was a tad bit shocked at just hearing the girl in front of her speak. She had maybe heard Tierna talk a few times on the pitch but that was it. 

10 minutes later Christen felt itchy and she wanted to get out of this bush. It was uncomfortable and nothing was happening, so she didn’t see the point. Right when she about to stand she heard someone yell. From the distance she was able to make out a very fast-moving Kelley O’Hara coming straight for the flag. Before Kelley could get there Tierna was jumping down from the tree and shooting. The two entered a battle of firing nerf bullets and dodging them. Christen decided that she wanted this chaos to stop so she slipped out of the bush, went around the trees surrounding them and shot Kelley in the back. 

Kelley whipped around in shock. “Press!” Christen smiled and waved at Kelley. Before Kelley could speak again more yelling came from the distance and suddenly Tobin was charging towards them with a flag in hand and a smile on her face. Sonnett followed close behind shooting at Mal, Alyssa, and Rose. The trio couldn’t stope the duo and Tobin got the flag safely across. After quick celebration which included Tobin picking up Christen and spinning her around after hearing she had shot Kelley, Christen dragged Tobin back to the house leaving the rest to clean up.

“Well, kiddos I don’t think we’re getting Tobin back anytime soon. Wanna hit the park? It’s a nice day out and we can leave the couple in peace. God knows if we make any noise, we’ll deal with a very angry Press for distracting Tobito.” The group nodded in agreement and left for the park.

Kelley was expecting a chill relaxing time. The kids were kicking around a soccer ball with Alyssa and it gave her a moment to just sit back and not join the action. She wasn’t the biggest fan of soccer. Her dislike for the sport grew when a soccer ball nailed her in the head from behind. She was about to yell at Sonnett, cause it was always her, but Sonnett and the girls were playing in front of her. She frowned and turned just in time to be eye to eye, well not really because the blue-eyed girl was taller, with Alex Morgan. 

“Sorry about that. Moe kicked it over my head, and I couldn’t grab it before it hit you. Are you okay?” Kelley had to blink a few times. The girl standing in front of her was perhaps the prettiest human she’d ever seen in her life. Sure she knew of Alex Morgan. Everyone knew Alex. She had also sat with her at lunch when they were dragged over by Becky or Christen now. She had even seen the girl in a damn bikini at Tobin’s house. However, she had never been able to really look at her up close and boy did she like what she saw. “Oh my God please tell me I didn’t give you a concussion. We have to go to the hospital. I’m so sorry Kelley.”

“Um I think I’m fine actually. It just hurt a little bit. My heads been through much worse when you have those guys as friends.” She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb at the rowdy group. Alex still didn’t look convinced though. Kelley thought for a second about what she could do right now. Suddenly, an idea hit her. “How about you make it up to me? I like ice cream and I’m sure you like ice cream. The Big Scoop is right down the street. You get me a chocolate soft served in a cone with jimmies and we’re even.” Kelley stuck out her hand and Alex immediately shook it with a smile. 

“Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.” Alex linked their arms and led Kelley through the park and towards The Big Scoop. Kelley couldn’t wait to tell Tobin what was happening right now. Her friend would probably say she was lying. Kelley may have had a huge crush on Alex Morgan when they were in middle school. After being outed freshman year she avoided any of her crushes like the plague. Thankfully, Alex had been a year younger and wasn’t in the high school yet. Once she was, Kelley tried to not look at the stunning girl in fear that her feelings would come back. She didn’t really feel like she could date until Junior year when Tobin smacked her in the face and told her that she deserved to have a relationship and find someone. 

The two came to a stop at the ice cream shop and Kelley grabbed a table while Alex ordered. She quickly texted the group chat about what was occurring then flipped her phone over to focus on the girl who was now walking back with a cone and a cup. “You would be a cup girl.” Alex raised an eyebrow at that.

“An what does that mean O’Hara.” Kelley swallowed at the look she was currently getting. Alex smirked and handed Kelley her cone. “I like to be neat. I bet you before you can finish that it’ll be dripping all over you.” 

Kelley smiled and pointed at Alex with the ice cream making it dangerously tip. “That’s part of the experience of eating ice cream in a cone. Duh.” She pulled the ice cream back before it could fall and dug in. Alex just sat back and rolled her eyes at the goofy girl across from her. The small trio had always kind of intrigued her. They were always a bit weird, but Alex never saw that as a bad thing. Plus, Kelley O’Hara was pretty easy on the eyes.

Alex noticed ice cream begin to drip down the freckled girl’s face and she leaned forward and wiped it off with her thumb. Kelley nearly choked when Alex licked the ice cream that had been on her face off of her thumb. “Something wrong Kelley?” Alex smiled sweetly. Alex knew exactly what she was doing here. Christen had told her that she was dating Tobin officially. She had actually only told Alex and Allie and they were all pretty sure Becky knew. This news had made Alex think back to her freshman year when she first noticed the lively girl. Okay, so maybe Alex had been harboring a slight crush as well. She wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to learn more and maybe, just maybe, get her flirt on. 

“Pfft no all good ha.” Kelley rubbed the part of her face Alex had touched and turned a bit red. “Thanks for save. My mom would kill me if I dirtied this top. She just bought it for me.” Alex chuckled and shook her head. 

“Kelley the shirt is already covered in dirt. What would one spot of ice cream do.” Kelley’s eyes comically widened as she looked down at the t-shirt. She hadn’t noticed the dirt stains. “I’m going to assume you didn’t even notice that huh.” Alex was laughing as Kelley rubbed at the shirt.

“No, I did not. It must have been from when Tobin tackled me into that bush.” Alex’s eyes widened at the statement. “We were playing capture the flag with nerf guns and instead of shooting at me she just BAM tackled me. I managed to get away, but it was totally not worth the struggle cause Christen nailed me with a shot to the back.” 

“Wait Christen was with you guys?” Kelley nodded. “Wow she and Tobin must be getting really close. Press never does stuff like that. She’s more of a meditation and yoga girl. Maybe next time you can invite me.” Alex couldn’t help the smirk on her face when Kelley blushed. 

“Uh yeah maybe, I guess. It can get a bit rough though and I wouldn’t want you to get hurt because of me even though you hit me in the head with a soccer ball. Not that I’m holding a grudge or anything! Like I said I’m totally fine.” Kelley’s rambling was the cutest thing she’d ever heard. She decided not to remind the girl that she played soccer and was used to being hit pretty hard.

The two chatted a bit easier once Kelley managed to settle and get used to being with Alex. “Well, this has been fun Kell, but I have to run. Allie and I having a movie marathon and Christ is hopefully joining us if she ever leaves Tobin’s. Can I have your phone?” Kelley nodded slowly and handed it to her unlocked. Alex plugged in her number and tossed Kelley back the phone. “Text me when you’re free. I’d love to hang with you again. Maybe tomorrow? If I don’t get a text, I’ll be tracking you down in the halls Monday O’Hara.” With that Alex hugged Kelley and left.

“Holy shit. I got Alex Morgan’s number.” When it finally hit her fully, she ran out of the ice cream shop and raced back to the park. “Guys! Guys!” The group turned. They had been getting ready to head to the cars and were going to grab Kelley since they needed her to drive, but here she was sprinting at them. “I got Alex Morgan’s number! Alex fucking Morgan gave me her number!” There was silence and then she was surrounded by screaming girls asking her what had happened. 

Instead of leaving for Tobin’s she spent the time telling an excited group of sophomores and an amused Alyssa how it had happened. After the explanation they left wanting to get back so Kelley could share the news with Tobin. Her friend was shocked but Christen wasn’t surprised. She just shrugged and said they would be cute together. 

Once Christen left giving Tobin a kiss goodbye they all went to the kitchen and helped Mrs. Heath get dinner ready and the table set. Mal had gone home with Christen so Mr. Heath was able to fit the other girls in his car to drive them home. Tobin, Kelley, and Alyssa ended up on the back porch looking up at the night sky talking about how this year was turning out to be much better then they thought it would be.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you love when it goes from fluff to GOD DAMMIT all in one chapter?

Tobin had been going to school for 2 weeks in a row now. She had even stayed after to watch soccer tryouts. She wasn’t going to lie seeing Christen sweat made her feel some sort of way. Christen was good. She was really good. Tobin wouldn’t be surprised if she got the spot as the second captain. Although, she knew it was usually two seniors, she thought Christen was well deserving of it. Tobin also got to watch the kids kick butt. She had no doubt that they would make the team. Come Friday she was able to say that she was correct. They celebrated at Tobin’s that night. She had wanted Christen to be there, but Chris and the soccer girls were going to an actual party. Alyssa stayed with them though. 

Today was Saturday and Tobin was laying in bed half asleep while Christen looked over her paper. She was beginning to feel bored and restless. Studying with Christen helped, but after a while her brain got overloaded and she needed to stop. She turned her head so that she could see Christen who was sitting at her desk. “Chris.” She said causing the younger girl to turn. All Tobin had to do was pout and Christen was getting up with a roll over eyes and coming to the bed. Tobin opened her arms and Christen immediately crawled over and laid on top of her.

The two stayed like that for a while in silence. Tobin left gentle kisses on the other girl’s jawline and neck causing Christen to hold her tighter and let out a content sigh. Tobin could feel Christen falling asleep on her, so she gently scratched up and down the brunette’s back until her breathing evened out and she was peacefully sleeping. The older girl gave Christen one final kiss to her neck before she fell asleep holding her. 

Christen woke up to a knock on the door. She turned her head trying not to move too much so that Tobin wasn’t bothered and awkwardly smiled at Mrs. Heath who stood in the doorway. “I just wanted to let you two know that dinner was ready. If you could wake Tobin that would be great. I’m sure she would be less grumpy if it was you rather then me. I’ll see you two downstairs.” The woman gently closed the door behind her after heading out. 

“Tobin, it’s time to wake up.” Christen whispered while giving Tobin’s shoulders a slight shake. The other girl remained asleep. Christen sighed and got off Tobin. Standing at the side of the bed she shook the girl again. “Babe your mom wants us down for dinner.” She spoke a bit louder and this earned her a small grumble, but Tobin just rolled onto her side, so she was facing away from Christen. The younger girl picked up one of Tobin’s bigger textbooks and dropped it on the ground. The loud noise finally caused Tobin to bolt up eyes widened and breathing heavily. “Welp, now I know what wakes you up.” Christen smiled at her girlfriend who now had a grumpy pout on her face. She shook her head kissed the girl before pulling her off the bed. “Dinner time.”

The two made their way down the stairs, Tobin almost falling halfway, and were greeted by everyone already sitting at the table. “Wow, Christen you’ve raised the dead.” Lindsey smirked and Tobin mock laughed before swatting her sister in the back of the head. “Ow what the heck. Mom Tobin hit me.” Mrs. Heath who was literally sitting on the opposite side of Lindsey and had seen the interaction couldn’t help but laugh.

“Lindsey don’t make fun of your sister. Tobin don’t hit your sister. We have a guest at the table, and you should both be behaving yourselves.” She winked at Christen and the girl chuckled as both Heath children muttered out a sorry that they clearly didn’t mean. 

After dinner Tobin walked Christen to the door. She gave her best puppy dog eyes but Christen just shook her head with a smile. “Why can’t you just stay here? It’s Saturday and I’ll miss you.” Christen laughed at Tobin’s admission before putting her hand on the door. If she didn’t continue to inch out, Tobin would eventually convince her to stay.

“I’m going to miss you too baby, but I promised the girls I would go to the party. I didn’t go last time because you and your cute face kept me here, but I can’t miss again. You could however come with me still. It’ll be fun I promise.” Christen gave her most convincing smile but Tobin just inched away from her.

“I don’t like parties.” She muttered and looked away from the younger girl. “Too many people and too much music. The smell of sweat and booze is everywhere, and it gives me a migraine. I think I’m going to just go upstairs and take a nap. I’m kind of tired anyway.” With that Tobin had managed to move back to the stairs with one foot on the first step. Christen felt stupid. She had mentioned parties before, and Tobin had gotten a little upset. Lindsey had explained that parties amplified Tobin’s anxiety and when she had gone to one her freshman year due to Kelley’s persistence, Tobin had ended up running out and into the woods in back of the house. No one had realized until Tobin stumbled out of the woods and into Alyssa an hour later. 

“Okay, well I promise to text you when I get home. Can I have a kiss goodbye?” Tobin turned her head to look up the stairs. Christen knew she was contemplating whether she should kiss Christen or just go upstairs. She looked back and forth between the two options a few times before slowly moving forward and kissing the younger girl. 

“Bye.” Tobin whispered before jogging up the stairs. Christen sighed watching her girlfriend seemingly run away from her. She turned and headed out wishing she could just tell her friends no and stay here. She knew she had triggered Tobin. Christen had a feeling that something more happened at that party to make Tobin feel this way towards them. 

With clothes already packed she had immediately headed to Allie’s where they would all be getting ready. Allie opened the door with a smile and pulled Christen in for a hug. “I’m so glad you could make it this time Chris. We were worried you would ditch again even though you promised to come tonight.” Allie led Christen up the familiar staircase to her room. 

She was greeted by all the other girls except Ash who was currently fixing her hair in a mirror. Never get in between Ashlyn Harris and her hair. It took them about an hour to actually get finished and piled into a car. Ashlyn was designated driver tonight which she didn’t mind. She would rather keep an eye on Ali who sometimes got a bit too drunk if the party was wild enough. 

The girl’s stuck together when they arrived. They quickly met up with Moe, Crystal, and Julie who had come from Julie’s house and they all hit the dance floor. Christen wasn’t afraid to let loose at a party. At the moment she was grinding on her friend Jake. She always loved dancing. It made her feel free especially when she was drunk. Jake spun her around and kissed her hard. Christen’s intoxicated brain didn’t decide to remind her that she did in fact have a girlfriend, so she kissed back for a little. It was Alex who pulled her off and dragged her to the backyard which was surprisingly empty. 

The rest of the girls followed with frowns on their faces. “What the heck Al. Christen was totally about to get some and you just cock-blocked her. That’s not cool dude.” Ash said with a shake of her head. Alex then remembered that the only ones who know Tobin and Christen were official was herself and Allie which meant the others were very confused by her actions. 

She sighed and looked at Christen who was sending a wink, if you could even call it that, towards Jake who gave her a smile and a wave back. There’s no way her teammates hadn’t figured it out, yet right? The two acted like way more then friends at school. Granted Tobin rarely came and sat with them. It was usually Chris going over to their table instead. She imagined if it was the other way around, they would have noticed the difference. 

“Hey guys what are y’all doing over here? The party’s inside and you’re missing it.” Allie said while bouncing onto the porch deck followed by her boyfriend Bati. “Woah, what did I miss?” Allie read the room and could tell there was some sort of tension. 

“Well, Christen was getting her flirt on with one of the most attractive guys in the school and Alex totally pulled her away.” Crystal stated. Allie blinked for a few seconds. Confusion settled on her face and then her eyes widened, and she whipped towards Christen.

“You broke up with Tobin?!” Upon Alex shaking her head the blonde’s eyes widened even more. “OH MY GOD YOU CHEATED ON TOBIN?!” Everyone was silent for a minute before they all started yelling out questions. “Quiet!” Allie yelled starting to get annoyed by the constant questions of her teammates. “Yes Press was dating Tobin. Well, I guess she is. Christen why the heck would you kiss Jake when you’re with Tobin. You don’t cheat cause you’re an actual angel.” 

Christen just shrugged and leaned back. “Tobin didn’t want to come to the party, and I was lonely, but Jake was here. Now everything is spinning. I think I’m going to throw up.” Before anyone could respond or do something, Christen stood and leaned over the porch rail to vomit. She plopped back down after that with a groan “Everything hurts.” 

“This might be my fault actually.” Allie sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I gave her like 6 shots and a few bottles of beer cause she wouldn’t stop checking her phone. Tobin kept sending her texts and I thought the only way for her to get into the party would be to drink some more. Dammit Chris this isn’t going to end well.”

“No everything will be fine. She was drunk when it happened, and it was clearly an accident. Tobin doesn’t have to know anything. I think this should stay between us.” Alex stated crossing her arms. A few of the girls nodded while Allie and others frowned.

“That’s not fair. Tobin deserves to know that this happened even if it was a mistake. I would want Bati to tell me if something like this happened. A relationship consists of two people and you can’t leave the other one out of the loop. She has to tell her.” The blonde loved her friend, but she had gotten to know Tobin a little bit and boy was she great. The brunette was a hoot once she got used to you and she was clearly a sensitive soul. Allie wasn’t going to let her be oblivious to something like this. 

The group was met with silence and eventually all eyes turned to Ali. She was a good voice of reason for these sort of things. The oldest of the group leaned against the railing. “Well, I’ve been in Tobin’s grade for a long time now. Moved here in 5th grade and immediately saw that Tobin was a vulnerable and easy to pick on kid. I think that maybe we shouldn’t tell her. It was obviously an accident and we don’t want that to cause Tobin to spiral.” The words of wisdom had been spoken and it was decided. Allie was still very reluctant, but she nodded in agreement. 

They decided to call it a night and went home. All the girls slept over Allie’s, including the three who had left from Julie’s, and hoped that the kiss would stay under the rug. It had taken a lot of convincing to keep Allie from calling Tobin herself and letting her know what had happened. They knew however that Allie would be loyal to Christen. 

In the morning Christen woke up in a panic. Morgan was awake on her phone next to her and she rapidly tapped on her shoulder. Once her friend turned around Christen grabbed her by the shoulders “I didn’t kiss Jake Morris last night right.” Moe remained silent but the look on her face told Christen everything she needed to know. “Oh God I did. I cheated on Tobin because I’m a stupid drunk. She’s going to hate me now.” Christen had begun to hyperventilate and the other girls had been awoken by the commotion. 

“Chris please calm down. Tobin isn’t going to hate you because she isn’t going to know. We think that it might be best that we keep this from her. We don’t want her to get hurt.” Christen blinked at Crystal in confusion as she explained the conclusion they had come to last night. 

With some thought she slowly nodded. “Yeah okay. It was just an accident and it won’t happen again. Tobin is my girlfriend and I only want her. Nobody else can compare.” She stated and all the girls nodded along except for Allie who shook her head and muttered something about being surrounded by idiots.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna hit you with that one two bam bam quick update baby. In honor of the fact that I'm heading to New Jersey tomorrow with my pals (and my dear dad who was willing to drive even though he doesn't really get soccer) to watch the games Sunday I've decided why not give you more to ponder over? Was anything resolved here? Hell no. Maybe I'll hit you with a third later. 🥣🦏

Guilt had been eating at Christen for the past week. The team had their first game and when she made eye contact with Tobin in the stands everything went downhill. The senior was sweet enough to come to the game even though she wasn’t a fan of crowds and had allowed Kelley to paint Christen’s number on her face. After seeing this Christen was completely off her game. She was committing stupid fouls and all of her shots had been way off target. Her coach had to pull her and sit her on the bench for most of the second half. 

The Fall Lake Pioneers did end up winning the game even with Christen messing up a whole bunch. Her teammates had told her to shake it off, but she couldn’t. She knew the reason she had messed up wasn’t because the team they played was tough, but because her brain was an utter mess right now. 

All the girls were now milling around the locker room talking about the win while Christen sat silently staring at the ground. A few minutes later she felt someone sit next to her and looked over to see Allie giving her a look that spoke volumes. “You have to tell her Christen. This is clearly killing you. Be honest with her okay? I Tobin will eventually understand the situation.” Her friend patted her on the back before walking off to join one of the groups chatting.

Christen stood and headed for the doorway with what felt like the weight of the whole damn world on her. She just wanted that pressure to be gone and the only for that to happen was speaking to Tobin. It was easy to spot the girl even though she had washed the paint off already. When honey eyes met forest green ones Tobin couldn’t contain her smile as she ran over to her girlfriend. She had her wrapped in a hug in seconds. “You played awesome Chris. The team kicked butt.” Christen smiled weakly back.

“I played okay. Not my greatest game. Do you think it would be cool if maybe I stayed over your place tonight? I’ve been missing you a lot lately due to practice.” Tobin smiled even brighter and nodded while dragging Christen to her car. The younger girl let her smile slip for a second when Tobin turned around. She knew she had to do this no matter how much it would hurt both of them.

They arrived at an empty house. Tobin’s father had a business trip to go on for his company and Mrs. Heath was visiting her parents a few towns over. When they got up to Tobin’s room Christen went to speak, but the older girl had different plans. Her mouth was on Christen’s on seconds and soon the taller of the two was pinned to the wall and letting out soft moans. Christen knew she couldn’t let this go to far. 

30 minutes later and the two were laying in bed panting. No, they hadn’t had sex, but they had come damn near close to it. Christen almost felt better in Tobin’s arms, but she still needed to tell her everything. Was doing it after that the best thing? 

Christen took a deep breath and opened her mouth. “I need to tell you something.” Christen was frazzled when those exact words came from Tobin’s mouth at the same time as she said them. They both laughed, Tobin’s real and Christen’s awkward. The green-eyed girl moved off of her girlfriend and sat crisscross applesauce in front of her while Tobin sat against the headboard. “Okay, do you want to go first or should I?” 

“It doesn’t matter to me. For all I know we’re telling each other the same thing.” Tobin said with a goofy smile. God, Christen loved being the reason for it, but she knew that in a few minutes that smile would be long gone because of her. “We could always say it at the same time like in movies ya know.” 

“We could but I think that just might make it hard to understand each other if we aren’t sating the same thing.” Tobin tilted her head in thought before nodding in agreement. “How about you go first? Is that okay?” Christen prayed that Tobin would say yes. After this she had a feeling the girl would never talk to her again and she wanted to hear Tobin say something without sounding angry or hurt one last time. 

“Yeah I can do that.” The older girl closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before meeting Christen’s gaze again. “Christen Press I think you might be the best thing that’s ever walked into my life. You’ve helped get so far with studying and actually gaining some sort of confidence. I’m not the same Tobin I was before. I’ve known you for a little over a month now and I’ve never felt so close to someone so fast after everything that has happened in my past. I just really needed to tell you that…. Well, I love you. I really love you.” Tobin smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck which Christen knew meant she was nervous. 

Christen was stunned into silence. Tobin had just told her that she loved her and now Christen was supposed to say that she had cheated on her at a stupid party because she was drunk? Tobin was looking at her with so much hope in her eyes. Hope that Christen would say the same thing back or at least something that meant it was a possibility in the future. 

Minutes slipped by and Christen could tell that Tobin was getting anxious. Her hands were restless, and her gaze was beginning to slip. Christen knew she had to speak now before Tobin retreated into herself and regretted admitting her emotions. “Tobin…I have to tell you something. I…” Christen froze up as Tobin’s eyes shot to meet hers in a stare down of sorts. There was so much hope in those honey eyes. “I…I love you too,” was all Christen could say. Tobin’s smile returned in all its glory and she was on Christen in seconds. 

When she pulled back, she her face changed a bit. She looked insecure. “You really mean it? You actually love me?” And God did Christen feel like the worst person in the whole fucking world because she looked into those perfect eyes and put on a smile while nodding her head and leaning in for another kiss. 

Soon Tobin was laying on Christen’s chest. Her breathing had evened out and the she had fallen asleep fast in the arms of the girl she loved. Christen however, laid there for what felt like hours unable to sleep. Did she really love Tobin? Yes, 1,000 times yes. She had never felt so connected to a person before. However, she felt like she was betraying the girl in every way by not telling her the truth. Eventually, she was able to fall asleep with the help of Tobin’s calming steady breaths.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both England vs Japan and US vs Spain were 10/10. Christen's assist and Julie's header were world class and boy was watching Rachel Daly strip the ball from people amazing. If you go to a game and have the ability to sit center field in the first few rows do it. No regrets. Anyway this chapter contains a bit of a time jump and I guess a cliff hanger. Enjoy 🥣🦏

2 Months Later

“Yeah Chris!” Tobin shouted as her girlfriend scored a hat trick for the Pioneers. Since the first game Christen had only gotten better. She was finally back in the swing of things and Tobin couldn’t be prouder. She was a beast on the field. Tobin would describe her as an unstoppable force. Next to Tobin sat a just as loud Kelley O’Hara who had a number 13 painted on her cheek for her girlfriend, Alex. They had just started dating official 2 weeks ago once Kelley got the confidence to actually ask the girl.

When the game ended Tobin immediately headed off the bleachers to wait for the team to finish talking. Soon a very sweaty Christen Press was in her arms. “Babe that was fucking amazing. Three goals in one game! You’re a champ.” Christen giggled at her girlfriend’s words and kissed her.

“Thanks baby. They were all for you.” A gag came from behind the two teens, but they chose to ignore Kelley knowing that soon she would be wrapped up in Alex to bother them again. “I’m going to run to the locker room and get showered and changed. Meet you out here after?” Tobin nodded and Christen jogged over to the locker room doors with a few other players. 

Instead of waiting on the field, Tobin headed to her car excited for the night she had planned. Today was a pretty big day for the senior. Two months ago she had submitted one of her pieces to a huge contest and she was selected as one of the finalists. She had a month to create another piece. It had to revolve around the beauty of nature and human’s in nature. It was something Tobin had done in art class before, but it had to be much more perfect this time. This wasn’t for a grade; this was for a chance to have her art auctioned off at some big event. She hadn’t told Christen you, but she knew her girlfriend would be proud.

She was almost at her car when she froze at the sound of someone mentioning Christen’s name. Tobin peaked around the corner and saw Mason Collins and Jake Morris. She wasn’t one to eavesdrop, but she was confused as to why they would be chatting about her girlfriend. With a quick scope of the parking lot to make sure no one was watching; she moved a tad closer so that she could hear more clearly.

“I hope it goes further then last time. I could tell she wanted it. If Alex Morgan hadn’t puller her away, I would’ve been smashing Christen Press until the morning.” Morris said with a sleazy smirk on his face. “Tomorrow at the party I’m finding her as soon as possible and getting her alone.” 

“Hell yeah dude. I thought you were for sure going to get some. Sucks that she got pulled away by her friend. I bet you she’s great in bed. I mean she’s so hot and that body of hers.” Jake nodded and the boys high fived. They both walked back into the workout center and Tobin just stood there in shock.

Her breathing became uneven and her hands shook. No, Christen wouldn’t do that to her would she? Christen wasn’t like that. They were just two boys being stupid. Jake Morris was known for lying about girls he had gotten with all the time. This was probably just another one of those moments. If anything Christen would have told her. She wasn’t going to believe the words of those two morons of her girlfriend. She quickly calmed down and made it into her car as Christen exited the locker room and started towards her. 

Christen was on her way to Tobin’s truck when she was stopped by a few of her teammates. “Hey dude we wanted to celebrate the win and your hat trick. You and Tobin are getting dinner with all of us.” Tobin opened her mouth to protest, but Allie held up a hand and continued. “Alex and Kelley are coming. Bati, Dom, and Zach are also meeting us there. If they’re coming so are you and Tobin. I’m sure whatever you had planned can wait.” With that her friends split to go to the cares and Christen sighed as she got into Tobin’s.

“I know you wanted to do something tonight babe, but I’m afraid it’s going to have to wait or we’re in for a rude awakening. The girls really want everyone out to celebrate together. Their significant others are coming, and they want you there too. I’m sorry.” Christen leaned over and kissed Tobin’s cheek. 

Tobin sighed but put on a smile. “It’s okay. The plans can wait.” With that Tobin started the car and Christen told her that Kelley and Alyssa had managed to get everyone to agree to eat at Miss Sally’s. This made Tobin smile a little more, but she was still upset. Kelley, Alyssa, the kids, and her parents were the only ones who knew about the art contest. She had a feeling that Kelley and Alyssa got them to go to the diner in hopes that it would make her feel a little better.

The two were on of the last ones to arrive and they quickly found their friends who were mashing a bunch of tables together. A waiter had tried to stop Kelley and Alyssa from dong that, but Miss Sally had quickly told him to get back to work and to leave them be. Conversation flowed around the table and everyone was pretty happy. The only person who was a bit quite was Tobin. Kelley eventually stood and took her friend outside claiming that she needed fresh air and wanted Tobin to join her, so she wasn’t alone. 

“Dude, are you okay? I know that you wanted to tell Christen the exciting news, but I didn’t think you’d be this upset that you couldn’t. If I knew I would’ve gotten Alex to convince the rest of the team to let y’all do your own thing tonight. I’m sorry man.” Kelley gave her friend a sympathizing look and a pat on the back, but Tobin just shook her head and shifted away.

“It’s not just that. Tonight in the parking lot I heard something that made me a little upset even though it can’t be true.” Kelley gave her friend a confused look and urged her to continue. So, Tobin explained what she heard the two boys talking about. “It wasn’t anything though. I know Christen would have told me so I’m just going to forget about it. Can we go back inside now? I’m getting a little cold.”

Kelley knew this meant Tobin was done talking about it, so she followed her friend inside. The rest of the dinner was normal and soon they were saying their goodbyes. However, the minute Alex got into her car Kelley grew serious and looked at her girlfriend. “When did Christen make out with Jake Morris?”  
Alex’s eyes widened at the words that came out of Kelley’s mouth. “How did you find out about that? Who told you? Was it Allie? I knew she would be the one to spill! Dammit!” When Alex met Kelley’s eyes, she saw anger building. 

“You mean she actually cheated on Tobin? That wasn’t something Jake was making up?” Alex realized that her girlfriend didn’t actually know what had happened. Instead, she was using Alex’s response to see if it was true. She had royally screwed up. “Alex, when did this happen and why doesn’t Tobin know? How long has my best friend been kept in the dark?”

Alex looked down at her hands in her lap unable to meet the other girls gaze. “Around 2 months ago,” she whispered. She managed a quick glance up and knew that they were all screwed. “Look Kelley please don’t be mad. We thought it was best she didn’t know so that she didn’t get upset. Allie tried to get is to tell her. She kept saying that Tobin deserved to know. She even called her that night, but we took her phone. We just didn’t want to hurt her. I mean it wasn’t completely Christen’s fault. She was drunk so…”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME! How dare you use alcohol as an excuse for my best friend to get cheated on. Does Alyssa know?” Alex quickly shakes her head no. “You have no idea what you’ve just done. For the longest time all we had was the three of us and the kids. Well I talked to a few other people sometimes and Alyssa chatted with you guys, but Tobin? Tobin didn’t let any body in. Now she finally has people in her life that care, and it turns out you people are willing to just stomp all over her and treat her like she isn’t shit! One thing you need to know about her is that she just wants to know the truth. By lying to her you’ve screwed yourself. She’ll never talk to you again.” 

Alex sat there in shock. She hadn’t realized how bad this could get. Now that Kelley knew there was no way they could keep this from Tobin. “What do we have to do?” She asked hoping there was a simple answer to this even though she knew there wouldn’t be.

“You guys don’t have to do anything. It’s Christen that needs to tell her. After that all you have to do is prepare yourself for the blank stare.” Alex looked at Kelley confused so the older girl explained. “Once you hurt Tobin really bad you don’t get back in. The people who bullied her, the girl who outed me, the kids who tried to force Mal to do stuff. They all get the blank stare. In Tobin’s world after she’s lashed out and gave you a piece of her mind you become nothing. You’re just a piece of the past that she’s begun to forget. Just another person who caused pain and doesn’t get a spot in her life.”

“You mean that’s it? There isn’t any possible forgiveness? No redemption?” Kelley nodded and Alex put her head in her hands as she began to cry. Kelley started the engine and the car remained silent besides Alex’s soft sobs. She didn’t look up until she felt the car stop. “I thought we were going to your house?” She looked at her girlfriend in confusion.

Kelley just shook her head. “You’re part of the reason my best friend is about to get her heart shredded. I can’t be with you right now. Not with this going on. We’ll talk after Christen tells Tobin everything. Once that’s cleared and Tobin isn’t a horrible mess maybe we can continue this. For now I need to be there for Tobin. She’s done so much for me and I’m not going to let her down. Please go.” 

The minute Alex got to her room she burst into tears and cried harder. She quickly texted the group chat calling an SOS. It took everyone a good 20 minutes to get to her place and when she opened the door, they were immediately asking her confused questions. 

The girls, which included Christen, Allie, Crystal, Morgan, Julie, Ashlyn, and Ali, gathered around Alex’s bed wanting answers. “Shit just hit the fan.” They all looked at the girl confused. “Tobin overheard Jake Morris saying some stuff about what happened at the party and she talked to Kelley about it.” The whole group began to freak out, but Alex shut them up with a loud yell. “Tobin thinks he was lying. Unfortunately, Kelley managed to get me to admit it was true by using her big brain for once and pretending like she knew the truth by asking me when it happened instead of if it happened. She expects Christen to tell her.” 

Christen stood up and began to pace around the room. “I should have told her in the first fucking place. I’m so stupid! It’s over. She’s never going to want to see me again.” Christen collapsed onto the bed and Ashlyn caught her. The older girl held her close as she cried and everyone else immediately surrounded her…except Allie.   
Allie sat in her spot and just shook her head. “Dammit. I knew this would fucking happen. Christen you need to breath. I need you to realize that you did screw up, but that girl does love you. You need to go and be honest with her. I’m sure she’ll find it in her to forgive you.” 

This didn’t exactly calm Christen down. Alex decided it was best to tell them about everything else as well. Once she finished the part about the blank stare it made everything worse. However, after all the tears Christen states that tomorrow she was going to go and tell Tobin the truth even if it meant losing her.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be one of these: ********************* in this chapter. That is my trigger warning as people who have been reading know. If you are sensitive to topics such as suicide please for your own safety and mental health do not read. Have a good night I'll see ya when I see ya. 🥣🦏

Christen stood outside of the Heath house taking in deep breaths before approaching the door. She was not prepared to do this, but she knew that she had to. If she didn’t, she would never be able to live with herself. Tobin needed to know the truth. It only took seconds for the door to open when she knocked, and a smiling Tobin came into view.

“Hey babe. I didn’t know you were coming over.” Tobin pulled the younger girl in for a kiss, but when Christen didn’t kiss back she pulled away with a frown. “Is something wrong.” Christen sighed and stepped into the house closing the door behind her. When Tobin saw the look on Christen’s face she led the girl upstairs to her room so they could speak privately. Clearly this was something important with how serious her girlfriend was being.

When they got to her room Tobin also realized that Christen didn’t know about her art contest yet. She decided that once Christen finished talking to her she would tell her about it. She was so excited for the proud look her girlfriend was going to give her. She knew Christen would be happy for her accomplishment even if she hadn’t one the whole thing yet. 

Christen sat down on the bed and one glance up at Tobin told her to do the same. “Tobin, I need you to know that when I said that I loved you that night I meant it. I meant it with all my heart and soul. I love you Tobin Heath.” Christen was already beginning to cry and Tobin just sat there with confusion written on her face. “However, I’ve been keeping something from you. Something that will make you most likely not love me anymore.” 

Tobin shook her head and took Christen’s hands. “Whatever this is Christen we can get through it. It can’t be that bad. I know you would never hurt me like that.” Christen began to breakdown. When Tobin tried to hold her the younger girl moved backwards and tried to calm herself down. “Baby, it’s okay. Please relax.” 

“No it’s not okay Tobin!” Christen stood up abruptly and looked down at the brunette. “I cheated on you. At the party I got drunk and kissed Jake and completely forgot that you even existed because I was so fucked.” Christen was met with complete silence. Tobin just sat there and stared at the wall for a while.

“This isn’t funny Chris. Kelley told you what I heard and now you’re joking around. The jokes over now so can I tell you the big news I’ve been trying to tell you? I know I’m usually not big on celebrating anything I manage to achieve but…” 

“No Tobin I’m not lying. I made out with him while we were dancing, and Alex had to pull me off of him. Allie wanted to tell you. In fact she called you, but we took the phone from her and hung up before you answered. I wouldn’t joke about this Tobin. I just need you to know that I love you with my whole heart and it was a hug mistake.” Christen was now holding Tobin’s shoulders so the girl was meeting her eyes to try and get her to realize she was telling the truth finally. 

Tobin stood up and walked over to her desk where the letter from the contest director sat. She looked at it for a while before looking back at Christen. “Every time something good happens to me it gets ruined huh. I can’t have anything good!”

“Tobin please calm down. I know you’re mad but…”

“NO! I’M SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE I DON’T MATTER! The minute I get the girl, friends, and I actually manage to get somewhere in life it all comes crashing down. It turns out the girl is cheating on me, none of those friends really care, and now I can’t share this achievement with the person I love…sorry loved.” At those lest words Christen sobbed. “Get out of my house Christen. Get out of my life. This is why I don’t let people in because they all just stab me in the back in the end.” 

Christen decides it’s best to just leave. The girl is angry and it’s her fault. Being there is most likely just going to make Tobin more upset. She runs back to her car and drives out of there as fast as possible. She is met with her friends who immediately take her in and try to calm her down.

******************************

Tobin on the other hand stumbles into Lindsey’s room and begins to dig through drawers. She knows they’re in here. She knows that her parents handed them to her this morning since they were having a date night tonight and wouldn’t be around for when she needed to take her pill later in the day. She digs and digs. When she looks through the fourth drawer and finds nothing her anger grows. She moves to Lindsey’s dresser. Before she can do much damage, the bedroom door is opening, and her sister is running in.

“Tobin? Tobin what are you doing?” She doesn’t get a response. Her older sister just keeps rummaging through her stuff. She get’s a nonverbal one when she here’s familiar rattle of pills in a bottle. “Tobin, it’s not time for your pill give me the bottle now.”

The two sisters are in a stare down now. Lindsey was the bigger of the two, but Tobin was desperate. Tobin wanted nothing more than to swallow these pills and let them take her to dream land. The older girl sprints straight at the younger and when Lindsey goes to hold her Tobin veers to the left easily hopping across the bed and out the door. Lindsey isn’t fast enough as she gets to Tobin’s room right as the lock is clicking. 

“Tobin!” Lindsey slams on the door with her fists. “Tobin please let me in. Don’t do this.” Lindsey is quick to text Alyssa and Kelley telling them they need to get here as quickly as possible and that Tobin was spiraling. “Tobin please let me know that you’re still standing.” This earns Lindsey a light tap on the door. She hadn’t taken the pills yet. Maybe she would listen.

Literally a minute later the front door was being opened and the two other girls were sprinting up the stairs. “Tobes, you still good?” There was no tapping at the door this time. “Tobin! Please answer us.” They got nothing.

“Get the phone out and get ready to call the ambulance now.” Alyssa commanded before backing up from the door. “Tobin if you are near the door move.” She waited a moment before sprinting and slamming into the door. This was not the first time this door had been forced open. This time it easily burst open and Alyssa was inside. Tobin sat holding the pill bottle and looking up at her friend with tears in her eyes.

“Why does nobody want me?” Alyssa didn’t answer her friend. Instead she took the still full bottle away and gathered Tobin into her arms. The girl began to cry into the keeper’s shoulder, and they were quickly joined by Lindsey and Kelley. 

Tobin eventually passed out crying and Kelley pulled both Alyssa and Lindsey over to explain what had happened. The two were furious, but Kelley told them to not do anything crazy. She was still extremely angry, but she knew Christen would be vulnerable right now too and she didn’t want the other girl to go through this as well. 

******************************

15 minutes away Christen was sitting with her friends. They were all trying to reassure her that Tobin would forgive her one day. However, Christen refused to believe them. What she didn’t know was Tobin still loved her even though at the moment the girl was the reason for a whole new wave of depression. Tobin didn’t think she could ever not love Christen Press. She would have to try though. For her own sake. 

The trio sat looking at Tobin as she slept. “I have to tell my parents. They’re going to want her to go back to the hospital. If that happens, she’ll never get to work on her art piece and submit it in time.” Lindsey sighed and rubbed her forehead. For the past week Tobin had been buzzing about this contest. For once she had actually put herself out there and now everything was being ruined. 

“No, you can’t tell them. Tobin did horrible in that stupid hospital. It messed with her brain. The only thing that did her any good was being with people that care about her. The hospital will ruin her again. It’s not happening.” Kelley was putting her foot down here. Last time Tobin was held she tried to commit suicide three more times. It took really seeing the people around her and how much they loved her for her to stop. 

The three agreed that they wouldn’t say anything to Mr. and Mrs. Heath. If things got worse though, Lindsey said she would have to tell her parents in fear of losing her sister. They nodded in agreement and spent the rest of the day and night watching over the sleeping girl. They knew she wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon and managed to keep the older Heath’s from asking any questions when they got home from their date.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Gasp* another chapter? I'm bored and can't sleep and wanted to add something. I have now remembered that I do in fact have another story I could be adding to, but I feel like I'm on a roll with this one an can't stop ya know. Anyway please enjoy. 🥣🦏

Tobin wasn’t at school that Monday and Christen immediately was hit with waves of guilt and sadness. She tried to block it out, but she couldn’t. It didn’t help that every time she saw one of Tobin’s friends, they glared at her. Mal was being extremely distant. She wasn’t being mean or ignoring Christen, but she was still not acting like her usual self. Christen understood why though.

The real reason none of Tobin’s friends were causing any trouble was because of Kelley. She made Lindsey and Alyssa agree that they wouldn’t say how bad it was and what Tobin had attempted. Kelley was still beyond upset about everything that happened, but she wouldn’t allow Christen to take the heat she would be getting if they all knew what really went down that night. Cheating happened and though Christen was very much in the wrong Tobin was mentally unstable and would not be able to handle that information no matter what. She knew Tobin thinking about ending her life was not Christen’s fault and if the others found out and blamed her Christen might enter the same state that Tobin was in. 

At practice Alyssa stayed as far away from Christen as possible. It was a good thing she was a forward and Alyssa was a goalie. Kelley had also been avoiding Alex for the past few days and it hurt the junior a lot. She knew she had been wrong, but she missed the freckled girl being a part of her life. In such a short time she had made Alex feel so good and now that was gone. 

There would be moments during practice where one of the kids would “accidentally” foul Christen. Today, Thursday, was probably the worst one. Lindsey had gone at Christen cleats up and left a nasty mark on the forward. She ended up being take off the field because she was bleeding, and coach Ellis didn’t put her back in and made her sit for the rest of the practice. After that practice things seemed to get a little better.

What Christen didn’t know was that when Tobin found out about the stunt she had yelled at her sister and called her stupid. She told the group of soccer players to not cause any harm to Christen. Did she dislike the forward right now? Yes. That didn’t mean she wanted her to be in pain. She told them to just be her teammate. It didn’t mean they had to be her close friend again. 

The next week Tobin was popping in and out of the school. She showed up for a few days and then disappeared again. Every time Christen saw the girl in the halls she began to sweat. She knew she was staring, but she couldn’t help it. Tobin on the other hand looked straight ahead and never met Christen’s gaze. It was almost like that day Christen went to apologize never happened and Christen hated it. 

Tobin was still stuck in her own mind. She didn’t talk that much at lunch and she wasn’t going out with her friends. They were always checking up on her. Kelley and Alyssa were practically living at Tobin’s house at this point. They feared another incident constantly. Tobin hadn’t tried anything with the pills, but she had tried to test how long she could stay under water before passing out. She had almost succeeded when Kelley had banged on the door causing her to lurch upwards and out of the water. She hadn’t tried it since, but she was thinking about it every time she glanced into the room.

It was now the day she had to submit her art piece and she wasn’t sure how she felt about what she had painted. None of her family or friends had seen it yet because it wasn’t done, but the minute she put down the brush she called them knowing they would want to see. Soon Alyssa, Kelley, and the kids were gathered in her room. 

“Well, here ya go.” She took the sheet of the painting and everyone immediately gasped at what was on the canvas. “I know it isn’t my best piece, but it came to me and I couldn’t remove the image form my brain until it was on the canvas.” 

“Is that…” before Lindsey could even finish the sentence Tobin nodded. The canvas consisted of a close up of a pair of beautiful green eyes and in those eyes was calming nature scene. Trees covered a landscape as well as flowers and different forest creatures. In the background was a lightly done sunset that pulled the piece together. However, if you looked close enough you were able to spot a tornado in the distance heading straight towards the peaceful scene. The name in the corner read “In Her Eyes I Find Peace (But Also Pain)” with Tobin’s name signed below it. “Tobin, it’s beautiful.”

Tobin just shrugged and asked them to help her package it for the mail. No one else brought up the fact that Tobin was painting Christen’s eyes. They decided it was most likely best to just let it go. Tobin had probably started the project before the breakup. However, this was untrue. The image appeared in her mind days after and she knew she had to paint it. She would never get those green eyes out of her mind. 

Once Tobin left to ship the package Alyssa and Kelley sat in her room thinking. “She’s still in love with her.” It wasn’t a question and Kelley knew that. She nodded and sighed. “This is going to get worse before it gets better.” 

“Yup. I don’t think Tobin is going to go back to her though. She won’t even look at her. Maybe she loves her, but she’ll never forgive her. Besides, once Christen graduates she’s out of here. Tobin will never have to hear from her again. It’s best this way. She doesn’t need Christen in her life if the girl is just going to trample her heart.” Kelley stated with a tad bit of anger in her voice.

“What about you and Alex? Are you going to start talking to her again? I know she’s been trying to get your attention at school, and I see the constant texts and missed phone calls.”

Kelley shook her head. “I don’t know man. I like Alex, but she is one of the reasons Christen didn’t tell Tobin what happened. In my eyes that means Alex would have no problem hiding something from me as well. I think we’re through. I haven’t really broken up with her yet, but it’ll probably happen once I’m able to talk to her without wanting to yell at her.” 

When Tobin returned, they laid on her bed and watched movies for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a lazy Saturday. They would go to the diner and then lay in all day watching movies and just chatting. They hoped that a weekend like that would get Tobin back on track. They were lucky she hadn’t attempted anything. They could tell the girl was completely ruined inside. She barely talked to them and last night she had gotten so angry over not being able to read a word that she put a hole in her wall and threw the book out the window. 

1 Month Later

“Open it Tobes! Come on you’re so slow!” Tobin rolled her eyes as her friends gathered around the Heath’s kitchen table. Her parents stood behind her and they were all waiting to see what the letter said. 

“Dear Tobin Heath…we would like to congratulate you…” That’s as far as she got before everyone was on top of her. Her parents both squeezed her so tight she could breath and Lindsey had climbed onto her back to join the family hug. Kelley snatched the letter from her and read the rest out loud making everyone even more excited.

Once the letter was fully read everyone was herded out the door to celebrate. The group went to Miss Sally’s and everything was on the house the minute the old lady heard the news. This contest had helped keep Tobin afloat for the past month. She had been so focused on it that she drowned out some of the pain. She had also managed to block Christen Press out completely along with the other girls. They were no longer a part of her life and she would like to keep it that way.   
Unfortunately, those piercing green eyes wouldn’t stop worming their way into her mind. She knew she would always love Christen, but this was starting to anger her.

While painting that piece she had come so close to tossing it out. Every time she picked up her brush, she would almost put a hole in the canvas instead of adding to it. In the end she chose to add the tornado in the background as a symbol of how something so beautiful can also be ruined. Tobin used to look into those green eyes and immediately feel grounded and at peace now they haunted her, and she wished to never meet their gaze again. 

That night Tobin laid awake staring at her constellations. She wasn’t going to be falling asleep for a while. She was hoping the eyes would be out of her mind by now, but they were fresher then ever. Tobin decided right there and then while staring at her starry night that she never wanted to love someone again so she wouldn’t. With that she closed her eyes and prayed for sleep to come. It did eventually, but it had taken an extra 3 hours.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why but I'm not a huge fan of this chapter. Really wasn't feeling the vibes. Hopefully you guys enjoy it but as for me it is number 3 on my top 10 list of my least favorite chapters that I've typed. Also, my spring break has been extended due to the virus so that's wild. Anyone in places that are being absolutely fucked right now stay safe I'll be praying for the homies. Anyway, hope you enjoy the read I'm gonna try to get some sleep. 🥣🦏

Tobin sat staring at the ticking clock on her therapists wall. Lindsey had found her sitting on the roof a few days ago and even though Tobin really didn’t intend on jumping, her sister spilled the beans to her parents about what had happened. Tobin would be back to seeing Dr. Vlatko every 3 days. She had done testing the first day and it had quickly been decided that new meds needed to be prescribed and they would be kept under lock and key until Tobin began to progress. 

As time passed Dr. Vlatko finally decided it was best for him to begin the conversation. He had been Tobin’s therapist for the past 3 years. He was the on who decided 4 months ago that Tobin did not need to come in as much. He didn’t expect such a drastic change in the teen and even though her parents had told him what happened he still needed to get Tobin to speak about it somehow. 

“Tobin.” The girl stayed staring at the clock. “Tobin, I need you to focus for a little bit. We only have about 35 minutes now and this is important. Just give me one word. A possible reason for what’s going on in your mind right now. If you give me that we can sit in silence for the rest of this session unless you wish to talk after telling me.” The doctor could see the gears turning in Tobin’s head. 

The teen sitting across from him looked up with cold eyes and said, “Christen Press” before going silent again. Another 5 minutes and Tobin was standing up and pacing the room. “Why do people I let in always ruin me in the end? Love is so stupid! All it does is make you cry.” Now Tobin was staring at her therapist with fire in her eyes.

Dr. Vlatko was taken aback. He had seen Tobin angry before. During their first session the girl had chucked his pencil case at the wall and screamed at him. There had been plenty of other violent moments but through the years she had calmed down so much. She had managed to find some sort of chill that seemed unbreakable. Now, it looked like Tobin was taking so many steps backwards. 

“Look Tobin, you need to understand that loving someone takes a lot and there will be hard times. This doesn’t make love stupid. You love your parents, your sister, and your friends. I know you have a heart of gold kid. Relationships will be tough, but sometimes stepping back and having a moment to think is for the best,” Dr. Vlatko stated. 

Tobin huffed and sat back down in the chair. “Yeah well loving my family and friends is completely different. I don’t think I ever want to be in a relationship again.” With that the teen remained silent for the rest of the session and the minute the alarm went off she was racing out the door. Her parents weren’t allowing her to drive knowing she wouldn’t actually go to the session so she had deal with a deafening silence when her mom picked her up. Wednesday’s was her late session and when they got home her mom told her to get upstairs and get ready for bed because she wasn’t missing anymore school.

On her way up she had made eye contact with Lindsey and gave her younger sister a glare. At the moment Tobin’s brain blamed Lindsey for having to go to therapy again. Her heart was telling her something else, but Tobin had decided that listening to your heart was stupid and it never led to anything good. For the rest of that night she holed up in her room, which was now missing a door, and ignored the rest of the world. 

The next morning Tobin woke up to a banging on her door and Lindsey telling her to get up or they would be late. “I fucking hate this,” she mumbled to herself as she slipped on sweatpants and a hoody. Her sister was already in the front seat trying to give Tobin her best smile, but it went ignored by the older Heath. “Put the aux away. I don’t want any music today because I don’t need a fucking headache.” Lindsey just sighed and pulled the aux cord out. 

Tobin was tasked with picking up the younger girls and they could all immediately feel the horrible tension in the car. It was perhaps the quietest car ride any of them had ever endured. When they arrived in the lot Tobin didn’t move, but neither did Lindsey.

“I’m not going into that building until you do. If I leave, you’re just going to drive off. I get that you’re upset Tobin, but it’s time to pick yourself up. I don’t mean that you have to get better right now, but you need to at least try because we all have your back and you just push us away.” Without saying anything Tobin got out of the car and began walking towards the school. Lindsey was shocked that she had actually gotten her sister to listen for once. What she didn’t know was Tobin hadn’t planned on leaving. She just wasn’t going to class at all.

Once the hall was cleared of people Tobin had slipped to the roof door. 2 years ago she had stolen and made a copy of the key and whenever she got a bit agitated, she made her way up there to be alone. An hour into laying on the roof it began to rain. Tobin didn’t care though. She could lay there for hours even if it meant catching a cold. Maybe than her parents would let her miss some more school. 

At lunch time Tobin heard the door to the roof open and she knew it was Kelley. The freckled girl was the only other person with a key. Alyssa had refused to take one in fear of getting caught and possibly getting kicked off the team. “Don’t worry I don’t plan on taking a nosedive.”

She didn’t get a response. Instead her friend sat down next to her in silence. When Tobin glanced over at her friend, she immediately saw how tired she looked. Guilt began to creep in, and she started to blame herself for the bags under Kelley’s eyes. Her friend picked up on Tobin’s thoughts as soon as their eyes met.

“Tobin stop. This isn’t your fault.” The only type of response she got back was Tobin turning her head away. “Please Tobes. I love you so much. You’re my best friend and I need you to know that you aren’t to blame for this. I just miss you and I want you to be okay.” 

Tobin began to sob and soon she was crying into Kelley’s shoulder while the smaller girl held her close. “How can you love me Kell? I never do anything good. All I do is ruin stuff. I don’t deserve your love. I don’t deserve love in general. I just hurt people over and over again.” With those words Kelley held her friend tighter and began to feel tears forming in her eyes.

“God Tobin no. You do deserve love. You deserve all the damn love in the world. All you do is love others and wear your heart on your sleeve.” Kelley wasn’t going to let her friend think these shitty thoughts. She owed Tobin so much. The girl had been protecting her since middle school when she was getting bullied for her freckles. “So many people love and care about you bud. You understand?” 

Tobin pulled back so that she could look her friend in the eye. “They shouldn’t. I’m a complete wreck. All of my issues just fall back on everyone else. I’m a giant burden on whoever decides to be close to me. I can’t do this to people anymore Kell. I think it’s best that you just stay away from me.” 

Kelley was suddenly standing up now and she had a look of pure determination on her face. She pulled Tobin up with her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “You listen to me Tobin Powell Heath. You are my best friend and I fucking love you. You’ve saved my ass more times than I can count, and you always fight for me even when I’m being stupid. I will never ever leave your side. Push me all you want. I’m staying right here with you forever. Remember what we promised each other in 4th grade? No matter what we would always be best friends. Well, I fucking meant that, and I know you did too. Fuck Christen dude. We’re going down now and getting to class. You’re going to kick the rest of this school year’s ass and win the shit out of that art contest.” 

Tobin stood their staring at her friend for a moment. Than, she pulled Kelley in for a hug. “I love you too,” she mumbled, and Kelley knew that was the best she was going to get. She linked their arms and Kelley led Tobin down the stairs and back into the school. She knew her friend wasn’t 100%. She probably never would be after all these years of bullshit. However, she could see the change in Tobin’s face as she had yelled at her. She knew that there was still a chance to find her Tobin again. The one with the big smile and even bigger heart.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel better about this chapter. Hope y'all enjoy it. I want to give a shout out to anyone who comments on this. I appreciate the kudos, but comments are the best. Y'all make me laugh and inspire some of the little details. Any thoughts you have slap em down there (even if said thought is me being a piece of shit *cough* *cough*). Anyway, thanks for reading hope everyone is having a goodnight and expect a double update cause I'm feeling pretty good. Gonna hit ya with that double double ya know. 🥣🦏

“I can’t believe we only have 5 more regular season games.” Allie exclaimed as she sat down at the teams lunch table. The season had gone by quickly and they were beginning preparations for playoffs. Everyone had been worried that they would suffer a major blow thinking Christen would be off her game. In reality Christen had threw herself into training harder. She was scoring every game but the love for it had disappeared and she never went and celebrated with the team anymore. 

Christen had begun to hate lunchtime. She enjoyed sitting with her friends, but Tobin’s table was visible from where she sat, and the girl was now showing up to classes almost every day. Christen had thought that maybe she wouldn’t be seeing Tobin much due to her usual absences, but it seemed that Tobin was making an attempt at being here.

Some part of Christen was extremely proud of Tobin. Seeing her go to all her classes and working in the library made her smile. However, another part of her felt like Tobin was clearly doing better without her. When they were together Tobin still didn’t show up and sometimes, she would ski out on study session to smoke. What were Alyssa and Kelley doing that she hadn’t? Christen quickly shoved those thoughts down before they got worse. She had no right feel this way. She should just feel happy for the older girl being here. 

“Chris, you’re staring.” Alex whispered to her and Christen’s trance was broken. She sighed and took a bight of her food before deciding she was way to nauseous to eat. Thoughts began to flood her mind that she wasn’t good enough for Tobin. She wasn’t good enough to be there for anyone. She quickly shoved her tray over to Ash and Megan knowing it would be eaten and ran out the door and to the bathroom. 

She thanked the Lord when she crashed into the bathroom and found it empty. Quickly, she raced into a stall and began to dry heave. It felt like guilt was crawling up her throat. This had been happening since Tobin told her to get out of her house. Everything would be fine but than Christen’s brain would remind her that she was a horrible person who didn’t deserve everything she had. She didn’t deserve to have Tobin. When these thoughts pushed through it would make her sick. This was the third time she would be throwing up in the past 2 days alone. 

When the bathroom door opened a few minutes after she had entered, she expected it to be Allie, Alex, or one of her teammates checking on her. What she didn’t expect was a hand being placed on her back gently and another holding her hair back. When the person began to rub her back, she immediately flashed back to the time she had gotten a little sick after eating seafood. Tobin had sat with her the whole time rubbing her back to help sooth her. She didn’t turn to see who it was until after she had finished throwing up. When she met those honey brown eyes that looked so sad and concerned the dam broke and she began to cry.

Tobin stood up then and left the stall. Christen figured she was leaving to go back to her friends. She was done helping Christen. Instead, Tobin returned with a paper towel to help clean Christen up and then picked her up off the floor. Christen was being led out of the bathroom, tears still coming down her face, and steered towards the parking lot. She looked at Tobin with confusion as they exited the school. 

“You’re going home Chris. You just threw up in the bathroom and you’re crying. You need rest. Being here is just going to make you sicker. Did you drive yourself today?” Christen shook her head. “Okay, I’m going to take you home and you can tell whoever brought you that you’re going home sick and you have a ride. I’ll make sure Mal gets home okay.” Christen couldn’t speak. How could Tobin do this for her? After everything Tobin still showed her kindness. Her stomach started to churn, and she felt sick again. Tobin must have seen it on her face because she turned her away from her car and to a trash can instead. 

After another 10 minutes Tobin got her into the truck, and they were on their way to Christen’s. The ride was silent. Christen didn’t expect Tobin to want to have a conversation with her. She found it odd that the older girls presence still soothed her in some way. She made her feel comfortable even when Christen knew there was no way Tobin could still like her in any way. She didn’t realize that Tobin Heath was absolutely in love with her and after hours of speaking to her therapist she had come to the conclusion that she would never not be in love with Christen Press. 

When they got to the Press house Tobin quickly got out of the car and opened the door for Christen. The teen helped her to the front door, most of Christen’s weight leaning against Tobin. It wasn’t that she couldn’t walk she just needed to be held right now. Once Tobin got her upstairs in bed, she realized this was the end of the line and that Tobin was probably going to be leaving. 

“Are your parents going to be home soon?” Christen shook her head. “Is there anything you need before I go? Do you want me to get you some water?” Christen didn’t want to make the girl do anything for her but she could really use a drink to get the horrible taste out of her mouth, so she nodded. When Tobin returned Christen was already beginning to fall asleep. Her eyes closed and her breathing evened out but before she could reach dream land, she heard Tobin say in a hushed tone “Why does my heart still want you?”

Suddenly, Christen was very awake and her heart was beating uncontrollably. Did this mean it wasn’t over? Did she have another chance with Tobin? She began to feel her bed shift when the other girl stood and something in Christen told her not to let her go. “Tobin,” she sad weakly causing the older girl to jump a bit. When the brunette turned around her face was bright red and her eyes wide. “My heart still wants you too.”

Tobin slowly backed towards the door. She needed to get as far away from Christen as possible right now but seeing her there in bed with tear stains on her cheeks and those oh so perfect green eyes she was frozen in place. When Christen realized she still had Tobin’s attention she chose to continue. “I love you Tobin. I meant it when I said that. I know blaming the alcohol wasn’t the right thing to do but you have to know that I want to fight for you. For us. You’re it for me Tobin Heath. I don’t care that we were only together for a few months. There’s no one else that could replace you.” 

Tobin was now pressed against the door and breathing heavily. She wasn’t sure what to do in this moment. She could run and never look back or face the music. She could tell by Christen’s voice that she was begin honest, but then again, the girl had cheated on her and didn’t tell her until months later. Who’s to say she wasn’t just a really good liar? Tobin knew that running from this could be the dumbest thing she could do. She knew that Christen was who she wanted, no, needed. Running away would just postpone the inevitable. Deep down Tobin had already understood she would go back to Christen eventually. It had taken 10 sessions with Dr. Vlatko for her to accept that. 

However, right now was not the time for her to be in a relationship. She had come to realize that even though she did love Christen she needed to figure out herself first. “I love you too.” When those words left her mouth, she could see green eyes brighten and happiness begin to she through. “But I can’t be with you right now Christen. I may love you, but I can’t love you at the same time.” 

Christen’s face morphed to one of confusion at Tobin’s words. “Tobin, we can do this together. If we love each other that’s all we need. I don’t understand what you mean. How are you unable to love me? You just said you did. I guess I just need you to explain a little more for me.” 

“Yes, I love you, but I don’t love myself. I haven’t loved myself in a long time. I didn’t think I’d ever get to the point of even believing that someone else can love me. Kelley, believe it or not, was the one who made me realize that I can be loved. I understand that now, sort of, but I still don’t love myself. I don’t think I could completely love you if I don’t step back and see how you could love me. Once I find that and manage to see myself as something other then worthless then I’ll know that I can love you fully Chris. Until then I think it’s best if we try to be friends.”

Christen could feel sadness fill her heart with every word. She was sad that Tobin didn’t want to be with her right now. She was sad that the girl was struggling. She was sad that Tobin couldn’t see her own incredible self. Christen knew that she was one of the many reasons Tobin probably couldn’t love herself, but she was going to change that. If that meant only being Tobin’s friend for a while, then that’s what she would do. So, she told Tobin that she understood, and the older girl left with a small wave and shy smile leaving Christen to lay in bed feeling some kind of hope that Tobin Heath would be hers again one day.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bam done. My brain was half off while writing this so I don't even know what's going on, but for some reason I feel pretty good about it. It's late but I had to give you that double double bang ya know what I'm saying (I don't even know what I'm saying my dudes). Anyway, my brain is absolutely done with this shit at the moment. HOWEVER due to the coronavirus ya girl will be taking classes online for a few weeks and if it gets worse I'll be online for the whole semester so be ready for updates baaabbyyyy. I'm gonna go beat the shit out of a hay stack now. Good night my diggidy dogs. 🥣🦏

Christen frustratingly kicked the soccer ball across the field. She felt like she had been playing like shit this practice and it was getting on her nerves. She kept messing up passes and was struggling to read the defense even though she knew the plays they were using. Once the whistle was blown, she was immediately trudging to the locker room with her head down to hide her anger. She was embarrassed and didn’t need her teammates eyes on her. She just wanted to be left alone.

“Christen, I’d like to see you in my office once you’re done in here.” Coach Ellis called out to her. Christen began to sweat. She could feel her hands shaking in nervousness. She understood why coach would want to see her. She probably wanted to call her out for all the shit she did wrong and tell her to clean out her locker and get out of here. She could find no other reason for the meeting. 

She slowly packed her bag and took off her cleats before making her way to coach Ellis’s office. Before opening the door, she tried to steady her breathing. Coach Ellis smiled at her when she entered and told Christen to have a seat. The minute she sat down her hands gripped the armrest she was beginning to sweat.

“Now Christen, you have been playing so well lately. I appreciate the time you’ve been putting in to sharpen your skills and become better. However, I’m worried. It’s clear that you aren’t playing soccer with any sort of passion right now. I’ve watched you grow and become the player you are right now. You are so gifted and talented but there is clearly something else going on right now. I’m not going to ask questions and force you to talk to me, but I am going to ask you to not come to practice for the rest of the week and to sit out of the game Friday.” 

Christen’s eyes widened in shock. “Coach, you can’t do that. I’ve scored in the last 8 games. I’m on a hot streak. The playoffs are coming up and missing these practices would blow up my game!” She could already tell that her coach wasn’t changing her mind on this just by the look in her eyes.

“I know that Christen. Physically, you are getting stronger and it’s amazing, but mentally you aren’t here. You are pushing yourself to the extreme and if you don’t take a step back you are going to burnout. I can’t let that happen. You are going to be crucial in the playoffs. Mental health is important. For now you will be placed on the injured list. I will be telling the girls that your ankle has been bothering you a bit and that I don’t want to risk not having you. Please use these few days to try and find yourself Christen.” 

The teen quickly left the office once that conversation was over. She could feel tears begin to form in her eyes and before anyone could ask her what had happened, she was sprinting out of the locker room. The minute she turned to the right she ended up crashing into someone. She was fine but the other person took a pretty bad spill. “Oh my God I’m…Tobin?” She frowned down at the senior who was struggling to catch her breath after being knocked down. Christen held out held out her hand and helped the girl up before giving her a questioning look. “What are you doing here so late?”

“I was working in the art room a little bit. Was feeling inspired so I figured I’d try and make something.” The teen shrugged still trying to compose. When she finally got a good look at Christen, she realized something was off. “Hey, are you okay? Were you crying? What happened?” 

The rapid questions brought Christen back to the reason she had ran out in the first place and her shoulders slumped. “Coach isn’t going to let me play for the next few days. She says I’ve been off lately and need a break.” Christen muttered. 

Tobin frowned at this. “What are you talking about? You’ve scored in like 8 games in a row. Plus you’ve been wrecking defenses left and right. How could she bench you?” 

Christen opened her mouth to answer when she realized what Tobin had just said. “Wait have you been going to the games?” Tobin blushed and nodded, and a small smile formed in Christen’s face. At least this was a bright spot to her day. “Anyway, she said I need to work on my mental health because I’ve been pushing myself too hard.” Christen shrugged. 

Tobin could tell that Christen was a bit shaky right now and clearly needed someone to be there for her so she did the only thing she could think of and pulled her into a hug. She heard Christen gasp before the younger girl wrapped her arms around her to reciprocate the hug. Before the two could part the door to the locker room was suddenly opening and Lindsey and her friends were walking out.

“Tobes what are you still…Hey back off!” Lindsey basically growled and pulled Tobin away from Christen. The other kids immediately stood next to Lindsey all of them trying to look intimidating and failing. “Christen, I told you to stay away from my sister. I don’t need her being hurt again because of you.” 

Tobin was about to tell her sister off when and angry Alex Morgan was suddenly there. “How about you fuck off Lindsey. You guys have been giving Christen shit for a while. She’s not the only problem here you know. Tobin would barely open up to her. Christen was always finding time for her and Tobin didn’t even attempt to do the stuff Christen wanted to.” Alex spit back at the blonde. 

The hall was suddenly silent, and a stare down was now occurring. Alex was no longer alone. More of Christen’s teammates were standing next to her and she could tell it was giving Alex the confidence to throw more blows. “Christen spent hours helping her study and keep up with her classes. What the heck did Tobin do for her?”

“You’re kidding me, right? This is a joke and the cameras are about to be revealed. Tobin didn’t ask Christen for that. Your friend made it seem like the only way they were going to work out is if Tobin had good grades and stopped being herself. She always brought up college and constantly asked Tobin if she had changed her mind about not going. Probably didn’t want to date someone who wasn’t heading to fucking Harvard. Plus, who was the cheater? Huh?” Lindsey was now red in the face with anger and Tobin knew her sister wouldn’t stop until she said something. If she ever got the chance.

“Maybe she cheated because their relationship wasn’t going anywhere and Christen realized she more mature then her!” At this statement Tobin’s head whipped around to face Christen and the younger girl could see that insecurity building up behind her eyes. She could see that Alex had hit a bad spot and she couldn’t let this go on any longer. 

“Everyone shut the fuck up!” She yelled causing everyone to jump back a little bit. “You are both idiots. Tobin was trying to comfort me because I was upset. None of what any of you said was remotely true and I need you to stop. I don’t know if any of you can tell, but you’ve just upset us more.” This made the girls glance over at Tobin and see just how much they had affected her. 

Christen stepped forward and pulled Tobin towards her. “We’ve decided that we are going to try being friends before we do anything else with our relationship because we both still have very strong feelings for each other. That doesn’t mean you all have to like each other, but don’t ever pull this shit again.” With that Christen turned and dragged Tobin towards the parking lot with her so they could both escape that mess.

Lindsey cleared her throat and stood there awkwardly. “Well, if this is what my sister has chosen to do, I’m going to respect it. I’m not going to like it, but I’ll respect it. However, until Christen proves that she really does want to be with Tobin I’ll be watching all of you like a hawk.” 

“We’ll respect Christen’s decision as well. If Tobin does anything to hurt her though, you’ll bet your ass Tobin will be hearing from us.” After that Alex spun back into the locker room followed by the teammates who had joined her outside. The kids on the other hand left the building waiting in the parking lot for Alyssa who would be driving them to the Davidson house.

When the girls entered the locker room they were met by the disappointed faces of Becky, Alyssa, and Allie. They all knew that they were about to get a talking to. They weren’t really worried about Allie. They knew that she would probably just call them stupid and tell them to stop fucking around, but Becky and Alyssa? They would be a whole other story. 

“All of you sit. Alyssa is going to go talk to the younger girls while I deal with all of you.” Alyssa left the room with a stern look on her face and the girls were relieved that they wouldn’t be getting both Beck and Alyssa disciplining them. “You have no idea how disappointed I am in all of you. You had no right to be a part of that. I’m sure that if you hadn’t butt in both Tobin and Christen could have handled the kids easily. Instead, you have possibly tarnished the opportunity for Christen to fix things with Tobin. Christen might be open about how she feels but you all have to understand that Tobin has been knocked down by so many people and lacks that ability to trust sometimes.” Becky looked down at her teammates and could already see regret forming in their eyes. She knew that even if they didn’t like Tobin right now, they would hate to be the reason Christen is hurt.

“I want all of you to get out of here and think of a way to apologize to both Christen and Tobin. Text me when you figure it out. Go home and get some rest. I don’t want to hear from any of you until you’ve though of how you are going to say sorry.” When Becky stopped talking the team immediately filed out of the room. They knew their captain meant business right now and they weren’t about to argue with her. 

Meanwhile, Alyssa chose to give her talk while driving the kids to Tierna’s. “I want you guys to understand that I’m upset with Christen too. However, that does not give you the right to assume that everything she does involving Tobin has bad intentions behind it. Lindsey, your sister, for the first time in her whole life, has found someone who she’s willing to let back in. Do you guys want to be the ones who take that person away from Tobin.” She was met with a bunch of mumbled no’s. “I didn’t think so. At the Davidson’s I want you to think about how you can apologize to Tobin an Christen. Your behavior was unacceptable, and you better pray that you didn’t destroy Tobin’s chances of forgiving Christen and getting her back or you’ll be the reason for her pain.” 

All the girls nodded, and the rest of the ride was done in silence. When they left the car, they promised Alyssa they would figure something out by the end of the week. Once they were gone Alyssa texted Becky saying it had gone well and that she would be there to pick her up in 10 minutes. They both knew however that this was only the beginning. 

Instead of going home, Alex had gone to Kelley’s house. She needed to see her. She needed to try and gain forgiveness. If Tobin could find it in her to forgive Christen did that mean Kelley could somehow forgive her? 

She knocked on the door and waited. When it opened the freckled girl took one glance at Alex and tried to slam it in her face. Thankfully, Alex’s quick reflexes stopped the door and she gave the older girl a pleading look. “Please just let me come in and talk to you.” After some thought Kelley finally moved aside and allowed her into the house.

The two walked up to Kelley’s room for some privacy and Kelley glared at Alex when she turned to face her. “What do you want Morgan? I’m busy with homework and I don’t really have time for…” Kelley didn’t get to finish her sentence because Alex was suddenly cupping her cheeks and her lips were hovering directly above the older girls.

“If you want me to not do this than tell me to stop.” Kelley didn’t say anything. Alex closed the gap between them and at first, she wasn’t being kissed back but after a moment Kelley was holding her hips and pulling her closer. Before things could get too heated the forward pulled away. “Kelley O’Hara I was an idiot but I’m not losing you. Christen and Tobin broke up and it sucked, but it wasn’t my job to tell Tobin. Christen needed to be the one to do it and you know that.” 

Kelley didn’t respond. Instead, she just kissed the girl again quickly. “I 100% agree. God this was stupid. I’ve been dying to talk to you but every time I work up the nerves, I feel like I’m betraying my friend. It took me a while, and Tobin smacking me across the face, to realize that this isn’t our mess. Yes, we have to be there to pick up our friends and stand by them, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose our relationship.”

“I completely agree. So, Kelley Maureen O’Hara, will you be my girlfriend again?” Alex asked. Kelley beamed and nodded pulling the girl in again. She could really get used to kissing Alex Morgan every damn day. This time when Alex moved back, she wore a flirtatious smile. “Maybe we should move this to the bed.” Kelley immediately agreed. 

Only about 15 minutes away Christen Press and Tobin Heath were laying in a park looking up at the bright blue sky. It was beginning to get chilly out and Tobin could see Christen shivering, so she quickly offered her jacket. At first the younger girl had refused but after a gust of wind she happily took it. 

The two weren’t talking. They weren’t touching each other in anyway besides linked pinkies. All they did was lay in silence with each other because it felt right. The continued on for a while before Christen felt the need to interrupt the peace. “Tobin?” The older girl hummed in response. “I love you.” Christen whispered. 

Tobin didn’t respond. She had already told Christen that she still loved her, but she didn’t feel like she could say it again right now. She wasn’t ready. She needed to take it slow. She had never allowed someone back into her life before and if she was going to do that for Christen, she needed to be sure of everything. Tobin did however shift closer to the green-eyed girl and fully link their hands. 

Christen wasn’t disappointed or saddened by the lack of verbal response. The light squeeze her hand got when Tobin held hers was enough to tell her that Tobin was trying to love her fully again. That’s all she needed. Just that small glimmer of hope telling her that she still had a shot. For the first time in days a real smile formed on her face. Suddenly, this break from soccer didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALSO CARLOS GOT FUCKING YEETED RIGHT ON OUT OF HERE SO THAT'S COOL (I was going to add this up top but I didn't wanna put anything after my guy Mr. Rhino ya know and my brain for some reason didn't know where to put it in that note cause it's broken) Okay, goodnight again. 🥣🦏


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today started off great. I woke up at 9:00 am and it was raining a little. That was great cause I love rain. I didn't have school work cause online classes don't start until tomorrow so I was like yup chilling today. I open my phone and pull up instagram hoping for cute dog pics and what do I get? News that Tom Brady is leaving the Pats. Did I cry that morning? Yes. Did I cry after eating cereal too? Yes. Everything got better though because I played Wii over my friends house. THEN I COME HOME AND FIND OUT HE'S PROBABLY GOING TO THE BUCCANEERS. WHO THE FUCK EVEN LIKES THEM (no offense to any buccaneer fans but also all the offense in the world because my heart has hardcore been hammered into pieces). Anyway that's been my day. Hope y'all enjoy the read and are having a gucci morning/evening/night. Imma go cry again. 🥣🦏

“Tobin! Tobin! Tobin!” She heard her name being repeatedly yelled. She frowned and decided the best thing to do was ignore her sister. It didn’t sound like anything was wrong so there was nothing to rush to. A minute later the blonde burst into her room holding an envelope with a huge smile on her face. “It’s the art people! They’ve made a decision. You gotta open it Tobes!” Suddenly an envelope was being thrown at her head.

She stared down at the letter. This little envelope would either raise her spirits or crush her dreams. Her sister was standing behind her and Tobin could tell she was holding her breath. She squeezed her eyes tight for a moment before she started to open it. “Wait…shouldn’t we wait for mom and dad? They would wanna be here for this.” 

Lindsey smacked Tobin in the back of the head. “They both won’t be home for like an hour. There’s no time to wait we got to do this now. It’s killing me Tobes just open it!” Lindsey shook her sister from behind causing Tobin to almost fall out of her chair. She swatted her sister’s hands away and glared.

“No, we’re waiting for them. They’re the ones who basically made me do this. If it wasn’t for them none of this would be possible. They deserve to be here.” With that Tobin stood and pushed Lindsey out of her room while she loudly complained. Tobin kept the envelope knowing Lindsey would probably open it without any of them she was so excited. 

1 Hour Later

“TOBIN THEY’RE HOME GET DOWN HERE!!” Lindsey basically screamed. Tobin just groaned and made her way down the stairs slowly. She couldn’t help but laugh though as she watched her sister drag her parents from the garage to the dining room table. “Alright, the gangs all here now open the letter sis.” 

Both parents looked at Lindsey confused. Of course she didn’t explain anything. “The art competition results are in.” Her parents eyes immediately brightened and now three pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly. She took a deep breath and tore the letter open. Her eyes scanned the print and with each word they widened more. “I…” Her hands started shaking and when she looked back up at her family, they all seemed concerned. That all changed when a huge smile broke out onto Tobin’s face. “I did it. I won. Holy shit.” 

Her father was the first to get to her, lifting her up and spinning her around. They almost crashed into the china cabinet, but Mrs. Heath managed to stabilize them. Soon Tobin was in the middle of a classic Heath Family Hug. Anyone who’s received a Heath hug knows that they’re the best kind of hug. She could feel the happiness radiating off of her parents and sister. She knew they were proud of her and it made her feel good. In the past few years she had avoided this kind of contact, but now it felt great and put a smile on her face. 

“You know what this means right? We’re getting the gang together and going to Miss Sally’s. You know she would kill us if we didn’t share this news with her and include the rest of the family.” Her mom was right. If they didn’t do this Tobin was going to hear it big time from all her friends, they’re family, and a very angry Miss Sally. One time she hadn’t told Miss Sally that she had been in the hospital and she got so worried, but when Tobin walked into her diner for the first time since she got wacked in the back of the head by an over mitt. It hadn’t hurt, but the look in Miss Sally’s eyes had scared her a tad. 

Within 30 minutes they were all at the diner and Tobin was sitting in front of a giant stack of pancakes that had been shoved in front of her. On top of the stack was a candle. “Um it isn’t my birthday soooo…” The only response she got was a glare from the whole table, so she rolled her eyes and blue out the candle. Once the flame was out everyone cheered and began to dig in. Tobin sat in between Kelley and Alyssa who had both thrown their arms around her and told her that they knew she was gonna win. Tobin knew that they had meant it and weren’t just saying it. Over the past 3 weeks they had been telling her that she had it in the bag no matter how much she protested.

The kids were all already covered in whipped cream after a mini food battle. The adults managed to gain control but not before the damage had been done. This was possibly the best Tobin had felt in a long time. She was surrounded by her favorite people. Her family. She was a few steps closer to her dream now. She knew there was still work to be done but this just boosted her confidence. She realized that this feeling she had was one that she never wanted to go away so she would try her hardest to keep it. 

The next day her spike of confidence had not faded in the least bit. Tobin had hopped out of bed and made it downstairs before Lindsey. When her sister knocked on her door, she was shocked to hear her sister’s voice coming from downstairs stating that she was ready to bounce. On the ride to school Tobin let Sonette play her “bumping” music no matter how badly it may give her a headache and shake her old truck.

She happily greeted her friends, throwing her arms around them and leading them into the building. Alyssa and Kelley didn’t question what was happening. This was the Tobin they knew from middle school before the bullying began. This was the Tobin they had lost. The two friends just wrapped an arm around her and let themselves be take the front doors. They hoped and prayed that nothing would ruin this. Every time something good happened for Tobin another thing swooped in and destroyed that little light. This time Alyssa and Kelley were going to keep it shining. 

The first obstacle came when they turned right towards the hall that had their lockers. Tobin was faced with some of the soccer girls. Instead of being thrown off though, Tobin just nodded at them and kept walking to her locker with her pals. The next obstacle came in Alex Morgan. She hadn’t been with her friends. Tobin managed to bump into her and before the blue-eyed girl could make a comment Tobin apologized, picked up Alex’s dropped books, and headed to homeroom. It was the last obstacle that would be the hardest one of them all.

Standing at the trios lunch table was none other than Christen Press. Upon making eye contact the younger girl smiled at Tobin. This was the first time all day that Tobin felt some kind of weight press down on her shoulders. She felt a little bit tired and lost some of the bounce in her step. The last time she had seen Christen at her lunch table it had brought her butterflies. Now it felt like she was being stung by bees. However, she was going to face this. She had to.

The group went to their table and sat down. Both Kelley and Alyssa eyed Christen warily, but Tobin just patted the seat next to her. “Hey Chris. I didn’t know you were gonna be joining us today.” She wanted to keep conversation light and make sure no arguments happened. She knew that Kelley was being mature during this situation, but the smallest infraction from Christen and the freckled girl would most likely be set off. 

“I just haven’t talked to you in a bit and I was missing you. Is that okay? I can go if you want. I totally get it if you don’t want me here. God I was so stupid to think that you’d be okay with this.” The junior went to stand, but Tobin quickly grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back down.

“You’re welcomed to sit here Christen. We talked remember. If we’re really going to do this friendship thing then sitting at lunch together is something that we have to be able to handle. I promise if you make me uncomfortable at all I’ll tell you.” 

Alyssa and Kelley both looked at each other with widened eyes. They had a silent conversation, and both were clearly in shock. However, there was something else in their eyes as well. Both held a glimmer of pride for their friend. She was getting stronger day by day. There would definitely be more problems along the way but until then they were going to relish this time where they got to see that perfect Tobin Heath smile again.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update that isn't at midnight? Wild. My top wisdom tooth has decided to grow in with a giant point on the end and it's poking a hole in my bottom gum so that's been fun. Can't wait to get that ripped out. Hope y'all enjoy the chapter. I'm gonna go on a run even though already showered today because oops. 🥣🦏

“Woah hey we come in peace!” Alex yelled as she managed to keep the Heath’s door from slamming in her face. Boy was this déjà vu. Instead of Kelley she was dealing with Lindsey and she couldn’t just kiss the girl and tell her she wanted to be her girlfriend. That would be very weird. “Look we know Tobin isn’t home right now and judging by the loud noise coming from upstairs your friends are here. We decided that it would be best to get together as a group to figure out how to say sorry for our behavior. We know Alyssa gave you a similar talking to. So, what do ya say?” 

The blonde looked at the group warily. “I’ll be right back.” She shut the door quickly and sprinted upstairs to have a quick discussion with the rest of the group. Once she was done, she was back at the door and letting the older girls in. “Come on we’ll do this in my room. Tobin won’t be home for a while, so we have time.” 

The groups spread out around the room, Lindsey’s friends piled up on the bed and her desk, and the other girls taking the floor or leaning against the wall. “Alright, so did you guys have anything in mind? This can’t just be like a gift. It has to be something that actually shows we’re sorry and it can’t just be thrown together in seconds.” 

Silence filled the room until a timid hand was raised from the back. All eyes fell on Tierna Davidson who was clearly not comfortable with all of the attention and refused to meet anyone’s eyes but Lindsey’s. “Yes T? You thought of something?” The girl nodded. “Alright, hit us with it.” 

“Well, I was just thinking about what Tobin likes to do and stuff. You know how when we’re upset, she’ll draw us little pictures and stuff to make us feel better? Well, I was thinking what if we all made her personalized drawings. She’s been trying to figure out what to put on the wall behind her bed for a long time after taking down some of her posters. Maybe she would like that. I don’t know about Christen though.” The girl shrugged and nervously glanced around the room.

Sonnett was the first to speak up when the girl was done. “Tierna you absolute angel that’s perfect! Tobin would love that. Homemade gifts are her fucking jam. Remember that Christmas when we couldn’t think of what to get her, so we just made her a poorly drawn comic book? We thought she was going to be upset but she loved it.” All the younger girls were suddenly yelling out ideas of what Tobin would like them to draw and Tierna received a giant dog pile hug that probably hurt a lot, but the small smile didn’t leave her face.

“Hold on!” Ali Krieger yelled causing the girls to detangle themselves. “That’s great and all but what about us? I don’t think Tobin would want drawings from a group of girls that said some pretty shitty stuff to her not that long ago. Also, that doesn’t include Christen in any way.” 

“It may seem small, but Tobin would actually really appreciate your drawings as long as it shows that you put some effort and thought into them. Even if you suck at drawing Tobin’s one of those people who thinks all art is beautiful in its own way if it has meaning behind it.” 

“Okay, so we’ll do that, but we still need to do something for Christen and we should probably also do something that includes both of the too. Like one big apology that they can both hear or whatever,” Crystal stated. The room was brought to silence and all the girls found themselves back at square one. 

“I got it!” Mal yelled standing up on the bed. “Christen loves books. How about since we’re giving Tobin personal drawings, we give Christen personal short stories. This way we’re apologizing in a similar fashion to both.” 

“That would be perfect. Besides, Chris is a sucker for homemade stuff as well. I think this would definitely show them that we’re genuinely sorry for our outbursts though it might take some time to complete.” Julie was beaming at the idea. Though while team had felt extreme guilt for what they had done, and she had been dying to find a way to apologize.

The two groups spent an hour talking about how they would do this and when they would want it done by. They decided they would set something up at the park and have both girls meet them there. The groups would give their gifts and then leave them with a candle lit dinner. They knew that they probably shouldn’t be meddling in how fast or slow Tobin and Chris take their relationship right now, but they had a feeling that if they were left alone to talk things would go well. 

Mal Press was dropped off at her house by Ali and Ashlyn. The whole ride she begun to stress out because she wanted to apologize to her sister today. She knew she had been distant, but she couldn’t help it. The pain she saw in Tobin’s eyes had made her easily side with the older girl. Now, it was time for her to say sorry and tell Christen that she was an idiot for doing so.

She knocked on her older sister’s door and was immediately told to come in. “Hey Chris.” She said in a small voice. Her sister looked up and there was some shock in her eyes, but it was replaced by that usual kind glow. “I wanted to say sorry for the past few weeks. I know I haven’t been talking to you a whole bunch and it’s been weird. I just need you to know that I love you.” 

Christen began to feel tears forming in her eyes as she stood and wrapped her sister in a hug. She wasn’t going to argue or get mad. She knew this was a big step for the girl. Christen had never been angered by Mal “choosing” Tobin. She knew that she herself hadn’t been the best sister. This was a chance for the to rebuild though. A chance for them to get closer. 

“It’s okay Mal. I understand why you did it. Tobin was hurting really bad and I wasn’t a good girlfriend to her. I broke her heart. I would have been more upset if you turned on her. You showed how big your heart is Mal. Tobin needed all the love she could get. I was hurt, but I was going to get better. Tobin was on the edge of a cliff and all the support was necessary. I promise I forgive you.” She placed a kiss on her sister’s forehead and Mallory began to breakdown sobbing. 

Christen led the crying girl to her bed and laid with her. Mal cried into her sister’s chest while Christen rubbed her back and held her tight. “I don’t deserve you’re forgiveness Chris. I was so bad. I hurt you and you’re my sister not Tobin.” 

“Hey don’t say that. I’ll always forgive you Mallory. Tobin has been by your side and protecting you when I should have been. She is your sister basically Mal. Maybe you aren’t blood related, but you’re still connected by something much more important. I appreciate you apologizing to me. Next time we have to communicate and just talk about it. Don’t go silent and ignore me again okay?”

Her sister nodded. Mal was curled up against Christen and the older of the two knew she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. So, Christen turned on Netflix and put on a show they could binge together as they laid in bed. Soon Mal’s sobs turned into laughs and the Press sisters were stayed up the rest of the night switching through shows and movies. Both hoped that they didn’t have to go through that again. 

On the other side of town Lindsey was opening Tobin’s door with a look of guilt on her face. “Hey Tobes, I know this was a few weeks ago but I need to…” Halfway through her sentence she knew Tobin wasn’t listening. “Tobin?” Her sister was standing in front of her easel. The canvas was splattered in green paint and all her sister was doing was staring at it with a frown on her face. “Are you alright Tobin?” 

Her sister turned and met her gaze. Lindsey could see the anger brewing. She slowly moved forward but jumped back when Tobin punched a hole in the canvas. “I can’t stop using this stupid green. It’s the color of her eyes. I spent forever mixing paints together to get it just right and now I can stop Lindsey. I know we talked and I’m starting to forgive her, but I can’t keep doing this. It’s making it all worse it’s making the stupid voice in my head get louder. It’s saying just forgive her. You love her so go find her and kiss her senseless.” Tobin was panting and pacing with her hands on her head. “I thought painting her eyes would end this. It was supposed to get the image out of my head, but it didn’t work! I don’t want it anymore!” Another hole was put in the painting.

Lindsey acted fast this time. She bolted forward and wrapped her sister in a tight hug before she could throw another punch. Her sister struggled to get out but soon she just gave into the hole and slumped against her sister. “I don’t want them anymore Linds. I can’t forgive her if the stupid green eyes don’t stop torturing me.” 

“I think it’s time for you to lay down for a minute Tobin.” She led her sister over to the bed and helped her sit down. “Why do you think this is bothering you so much? What is it about the eyes that’s getting to your head? I thought you loved her eyes.” 

“That’s the problem. They’re making me want to jump into a relationship again. I can’t do that Lindsey. I need time to heal from it. I can’t just dive in again.” Lindsey held her sister close as she spoke. “I don’t want to be hurt like that again. Not by the same person. I would never forgive myself if I let that happen.”

“Tobin, I think you just need to step back for a minute. Your head is telling you to forgive her. It’s telling you it’s time. What is your heart saying? That’s what’s important in a relationship. What does your heart want?” 

“My heart is telling me that Christen would never hurt me again. That she really does love me and that being her friend will not be enough. That I need her.” Tobin looked up at her sister with sad eyes. “The one time my stupid heart agrees with my stupid head would be a time like this.” 

Lindsey sighed and shook her head. “This is important Tobes. I think if both your head and heart are in the same place it means it’s meant to happen. Maybe you need a little more time, but you clearly forgive her. Do you love her Tobin? Do you really love her?”

Tobin didn’t say anything right away. Actually, she didn’t say anything at all. Instead she stood up and went racing down the hallway and down the stairs. “Tobes! Hey! Where are you going!” Lindsey wasn’t given an answer. She sped downstairs and managed to grab Tobin just as she got to her truck. “Where are you going?"

“I love her. I love her a lot. I shouldn’t love anyone like this. I’m a dumb teenager who has an iffy future in the art world. I am never sure about anything and I never know what’s happening, but Linds, this is something I’m sure about and if I don’t tell her right now, I don’t think I’ll be able to after. It’s that spur of the moment type of thing you know Oh God this is beginning to seem like one of those stupid romcoms that Sam and Rose always cry during. Gross. I have to do this though. I’ll be back before mom and dad get home.” With that Lindsey was left standing there as her sister’s truck sped out of the garage and down the street.

“Well, that was wild. When the heck am I gonna find love like that? Well, minus the horrible angst, cheating, and hormonal teenage antics.” Lindsey thought for a moment. “You know what I think I’ll follow dad’s rules from when we were like 7 and he told us never to date cause boys, and girls, were icky. Boy was it funny when Tobin told mom that dad thought she was icky. Wait I’m really standing here talking to myself when I could be spreading the word that Tobin is about to profess her love!” With that Lindsey booked it upstairs to text the group chat the good news.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's probably going to be only 2 chapters left. The last one will consist of a time jump. However, if a sequel is asked for then I will deliver. Just let me know if you would want it to continue cause I'm down. Hope y'all enjoy the chapter and have a good morning/evening/night. 🥣🦏

Tobin almost fell out of her truck she was moving so quickly. She stumbled to the front door of the Press house and knocked rapidly. She hoped that Christen would be the one answering. She almost bolted when she realized it could be her parents opening it, but she stayed. It ended up being Mallory opening it and when she met Tobin’s eyes she immediately moved out of the way.

The brunette bolted up the stairs and almost just walked into Christen’s room, but she held herself back and knocked. Christen didn’t open the door. Instead she just called for her to come in. Tobin knew that the younger girl probably thought it was Mal. She slowly opened the door and stepped in hoping Christen would be okay with her being there. 

Christen looked up with a smile, but her face quickly changed to one of shock. “Tobin? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” Christen stood and moved forward towards the heavily breathing and shaky teen. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Christen was worried that Tobin was about to explode or get angry at her for some reason. Had she done something else to cause the girl harm? 

What Christen wasn’t expecting was Tobin grabbing her by her shoulders and holding her in a tight grip. “Christen.” She said while finally meeting the girl’s eyes. “I’ve been thinking all day. I have been having debates in my head and trying to figure out what to do. I thought the best thing would be to push everything down for now and just ignore it, but I can’t anymore. Chris, I love you. I love you and I don’t know what to do about it. I want to hold you and be with you but I’m so scared that you’ll hurt me again. No matter how much I think like that though, I can’t get you out of my head or my heart.” 

Silence enveloped the room. Christen didn’t know what to say. Tobin had just opened up to her and it left her speechless. Thankfully, she managed to find her voice before Tobin could regret saying what she did. “I love you too. I fucked up and I was stupid. I don’t really believe in a god or whatever, but I found myself praying that you would forgive me. Tobin, I need you to know that even though I want you to do well in school I don’t care if you go to college. I don’t care that you want to be an artist even though it’s kind of an unstable job. All I care about is you and that you’re okay.” 

At this point both of them were crying a little bit and Tobin had opened her arms for Christen. They held each other in silence for a moment before Tobin moved them to the bed to cuddle. “We really suck at jus being friends huh?” 

Christen giggled and lightly kissed Tobin’s jaw before laying her head on Tobin’s chest. “Maybe we weren’t meant to be friends. We were always meant to be something more than that.” At that statement Tobin held Christen closer to her and kissed the top of her head. “I just really need you to know that I will never hurt you like that again. I’m going to make mistakes but nothing like that baby. I promise.” 

“I know Chris. I want to be with you, but it will take me time to completely trust you again. I don’t want to be friends though. I want to be more than that, and I don’t think I can handle just calling you a friend. So, even though I need a bit to let you fully in again I want this. I want you to be my girlfriend.” 

Christen peppered Tobin’s face with kisses causing the older girl to laugh. “I want to be your girlfriend too. I’m going to work my hardest to gain your trust back Tobes. I won’t let you down again. I love you so much.” 

The two teens laid together that night just catching up on what they missed. Tobin admitted that she had been to all of Christen’s games not just to see her Alyssa, Lindsey, and the kids, but also because she had missed her and needed to see her. Even on the days she wasn’t at school she found herself at the field and she told Christen that she was so proud of how she was playing. 

Tobin had received a text from Lindsey saying their parents were coming home soon. Tobin didn’t want to leave, but tonight the Heath’s were playing boardgames together. To some that probably didn’t seem as important as being with the person you just professed your love to, but for Tobin it was. Every week they were doing some sort of family activity together. It had helped Tobin through the past few weeks, and she wasn’t going to miss out just because some things were getting better. 

Christen walked her to her truck and kissed her before she got in. “Before I go, there’s something I really need to show you soon. It’s not really a big deal, but it’s important to me. Are you free next Sunday?” 

Christen was about to pull out her phone to check but she quickly stopped herself. In her mind she knew she wasn’t really free Sunday. The girls were getting together at Allie’s and she really wanted to go. However, she could tell by Tobin’s voice that this was something she really wanted Christen to see even though she was trying to play it off as something not that important. “Yes, I’m completely free. Should I meet you at your house or…”

“No, I can pick you up. It’s not something crazy but you kind of need to dress up a little bit. Not really a sweatpants and hoodie thing. It’s not a date or anything I just well it’s like an event and…you know what never mind this was stupid and you don’t have to come. It’s just something stupid.” 

“Tobin, stop. I’ll be there. I don’t care if I have to dress up, I want to go for you. Just let me know when you’re going to be getting me and I’ll be ready.” Christen hopped onto the nerf bar and leaned into Tobin’s truck to give kiss the brunette. She hoped that this would shutdown some of the doubts she was clearly having. “I’ll see you Sunday babe.” 

Tobin’s smile returned and she gave Christen a shy wave as the girl stood back. On her way home Tobin blasted the radio and found herself feeling happier than usual. She was still nervous about Sunday. That was the day of the art auction that her piece would be in. She hoped with all her heart that Christen liked it at least a little and that she would get to hold onto this good feeling for a little while longer.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I like what I have written here? No. Do I hate it? Not necessarily, there have been worse. I don't know what about it is giving me bad vibes it just is. I appreciate the comments complementing my writing but it won't change what I think about it. Unfortunately, I'm someone who dislikes their writing so much that I cringe if it's read out loud. I would actually rather eat a bowl of nails. However, I know it's just me being stupid. I hope y'all enjoy it. There will not be a double update tonight, but I think I'm going to double update tomorrow for one of my stories. Not sure which one but if you have a suggestion feel free to let me know. Anyways have a good morning/afternoon/or night my homies and enjoy the read. 🥣🦏(I didn't forget this time)

One week after Tobin and Christen managed to get their shit together, they were cornered by both friend groups at Tobin’s house. Lindsey had burst in with everyone while the girls had been on the couch watching a movie. Becky and Alyssa stood at the head of both groups and their looks of intensity were kinda freaking Christen and Tobin out. 

“Chris, Tobes, we asked you here because your friends and siblings have something important to say to you guys. It took them some time, but they’ve managed to work together in order to apologize for being morons.” Becky turned to face the groups with a raised eyebrow and both her and Alyssa stepped out of the way so the others could move up.

Lindsey spoked first for her group. “Uh…so we just want to say first to Tobin sorry about not listening to you and going after Christen on the pitch. We should have just acted mature and left her alone. We promised we would, and we continued to act out and that wasn’t okay. Christen, we’re sorry about not only being jerks on the pitch, but also for our behavior in the hallway. It was really rude and disrespectful of us. Also, I guess I specifically owe Alex an apology. I shouldn’t have came at you like that.” Lindsey stopped for a second to turn to the girls behind her. They quickly passed her a pile of papers. “Um…so these are from all of us. There’s a whole other thing that they have for Christen from all of us…but um this is for you Tobes…so yeah.” Lindsey handed her the stack.

With a frown Tobin looked down at the papers now in her hands. She turned the top one over and couldn’t help but laugh at what was drawn. It was clear without looking at the name that this was done by Sonnett. She had attempted to draw the photo of the group from 3 years ago at the beach. It consisted of Kelley buried in the sand, Tobin about to be hit in the face by a bucket, Sonnett being the one throwing the bucket, Lindsey cackling on the ground, and Alyssa trying to hide her amusement and failing for once. It was one of Tobin’s favorite pictures. Unfortunately, the frame hadn’t been wide enough to catch Sam and Rose about to dump water on an unsuspecting Kelley and Mal and Tierna hadn’t made it to the beach that day. This day had been one of Tobin’s good days. Those had been rare that year. 

“We all drew one. Some of them consist of our favorite memories and some are just random drawings. I know you’ve been trying to fill that one wall up in your room and when that got mentioned Tierna used her big brain and came up with this.” Tobin smiled brightly and immediately walked over and pulled the group in for a hug. These were the types of gifts she lived for. Little things that end up meaning everything to her. These were going right on her wall when she had the chance. 

Tobin sat back down, and all eyes were on the soccer squad. “Alrighty then. Looks like it’s our time to shine.” Alex awkwardly scratched the back of her neck before turning to her group and receiving the small stack of papers. “So before I hand these over, I should say that on behalf of all of us we’re really sorry. Christen, it is your relationship and we have no right to try and ruin it. Tobin, we’re really sorry. The stuff that came out of my mouth was wrong and I swear to you I didn’t mean it. I know that doesn’t mean I don’t have to take responsibility. I was horrible and we all lost our cool. Also, Lindsey I’m sorry to you too.”

Alex stepped forward and handed the sheets over to Christen. “We know how much you love to read. You were saying a little while ago that you ran out of good books at the moment, so we came up with the idea to write you stuff. Some are little short stories and poems. We’re really sorry Chris.”

Alex and all the other girls were pulled into a hug by Christen. She had already forgiven her friends, but this meant a lot to her. Before Tobin or her could properly thank them, Alyssa was stepping forward with a little smile on her face. 

“Now, while this was all going on Kelley was putting the finishing touches on the table in the backyard. Don’t worry, we did not leave Kelley alone for such a grand task. We told your mom about what was happening today, and she is supervising.” Tobin sighed in relief. The amount of damage Kelley could do alone out there was a large amount. 

The two were guided outside by their friends and were shocked to find the backyard lit up by fairy lights and a table set up in the middle with candles. Tobin’s mom quickly came over and kissed Tobin on the cheek before going inside. The teen turned bright red in embarrassment but Christen thought it was adorable.

“Bonjour. Welcome to Kelley’s Awesome Fucking Restaurant. Please take a seat. Your meal will be out in a moment. Don’t worry the people that know you two best picked it out.” The freckled teen winked and pulled their chairs out for them. Soon they were the only ones left in the glowing backyard.

“Wow, I did not expect this. I mean I expected a nice apology, but this is above and beyond. I would have excepted a sorry, some tears, a girls night movie.” Christen stated with a grin. Tobin didn’t get a chance to respond because Kelley was walking out with food. 

“For you Tobito we have a bacon burger with fries on the side and for the wonderful Christen Press we have a Fettuccine Alfredo. All of this is courtesy of Mrs. Heath’s amazing skills in the kitchen. Oh, and Chris your parents were also told about this important event and they pitched in with this awesome fucking homemade bread. Do you know how good it was? Cause like we ate it like real fast. With that said I must regret to inform you that we are all out of bread…and pie. They gave us pie too…we also ate that. Okay, I’m gonna go now. Bye!” Kelley bolted out of the backyard cackling.

“Well, at least they didn’t eat our food. I’m telling you Kelley and Emily are vacuums. They can eat anything and everything in seconds. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of them didn’t even know that food existed. Probably went straight down the hatch.” 

Christen laughed and reached across the table to attempt to take one of Tobin’s fries. With fast reflexes her hand was grabbed. “I know you weren’t just going for my fries. Babe, as much as I just made fun of Kelley and Sonny, I am also a human vacuum.”

“But baby, you know fries are my favorite.” Christen pouted and gave Tobin her best puppy eyes. “All I want is one. Please?” She reached over a took Tobin’s hand in hers, rubbing her palm with her thumb. All it took was a few seconds of that for Tobin to giver her full reign of her fries. 

“One day you won’t get me with that. I’ll find a way to combat that pout.” Tobin spoke in a tone that made it seem like she really would accomplish this but Christen knew she could never. It was mutual. Christen melted at Tobin’s pout and soft brown eyes and she had accepted the fact that she would never be able to say no to them. 

After they ate, they tried to clean up, but they were forced out of the way as the girls came out and did it for them. They said thank you, but it was shrugged off as if it was no biggie. “Well, since they’re busy doing this would you want go to my room and hang?” 

Christen immediately nodded and grabbed Tobin’s hand taking the lead. The minute they arrived Christen was shutting the door and pulling Tobin down onto the bed. A heated kiss turned into Christen straddling Tobin and reaching to pull off the other teens shirt. However, she was stopped by gentle hands. When her eyes met Tobin’s with confusion Tobin moved Christen off of her and sat up.

“Chris, we just fixed this. Us. I think we really need to move at a slow pace. We can’t just go back to making out on my bed and stuff. I like you Chris. You know that I like you so fucking much, but I want to take my time with this. Yes, I want to be your girlfriend, but I just want to slow it down for a bit. Could we maybe just cuddle?” 

Christen let out a sigh of relief. She thought Tobin was about to say she didn’t want this with her. “Yes, of course.” She smiled and laid back down allowing Tobin to be her big spoon. She felt so comfortable in Tobin’s arms. They made her feel like she was safe. “Tobin?” She got a sleepy response. “I like you a lot too.” That earned her a kiss on the shoulder and soon she felt Tobin’s breathing even out. She wasn’t surprised that the older girl had fallen asleep. Every other time they cuddled in bed this had happened. Christen managed to get the covers over them and soon she was fallowing Tobin to dreamland.


	31. Authors Note

Hello there folks. Yes it is I and I am alive. A lot has happened over the past month. Nothing crazy just some oof moments. I have this lovely thing where my brain feels like it’s exploding usually occurs once a month or so but boy has it hit me every few days like a fucking semi to a smart car. Looking at a screen was a big no no for me. However, it’s been a few days and my head seems cleared up. I am going to be updating all 3 of my works in the next few days. In other news that is much better I have officially kicked my first year of college in the ass and my birthday is in like less then an hour. Got an early gift in the form of a fucking awesome lil turtle and I managed to get my final research paper in on time even though I started it an hour before it was due. Just living my best migraine free life. Expect updates. I shall be making my grand return. That tis all 🥣🦏


End file.
